Fix, Neuter, and/or spay NCARB

listen, you come up with a more to the point petition, citing examples and containing less emotional baggage, i'll sign it.

Fix NCARB, I'll also sign it if you rewrite it in a more diplomatic tone, without swearing, and with more specific examples.

The one you wrote sounds a bit like an angry rant, without specifics. I took a quick stab at an edit:

Fellow architects: please help me send a clear message to NCARB. I've started this petition because of my difficulties in dealing with NCARB's customer service bureaucracy. Many young architects have cited their frustration at the NCARB's lack of competency in customer service, promptness, and record keeping.

We as architectural professionals are required to perform with a certain level of professionalism. However, the records management and customer service group at NCARB fails us as a profession. For countless IDP applicants, records are lost, transmittals are kept in limbo for months or never sent, timelines promised on their websites are not honored. Phone messages and emails are left unanswered, despite repeated attempts.

70% of graduates of architecture school never complete IDP (check this number?) This is partly due to the difficulty of working with NCARB—an organization that in theory regulates our architectural education, and yet seems to have no accountability toward the profession. We must hold them accountable for their mistakes. After all, we pay them dues and fees, don't we?

In order to rectify the problem, NCARB needs to improve its customer service immediately. A human receptionist must always be available during work hours to answer (or obtain immediate answers for) specific record questions. Applicants' record status, and the specific timelines for processing those records, should be posted on the website, accessible by password. Failure to meet stated deadlines on NCARB's part should result in a monetary credit toward the applicants' accounts. There may be other solutions to these problems as well.

NCARB, you are a national professional organization that architects rely on to advance their careers. Yet for many of us, you also serve as a major career obstacle. Please respond to this petition with action and improvement.

Please sign and forward this petition by May 12, 2008 to start transforming NCARB into a truly professional organization. I plan to send this petition on to NCARB and AIA's Boards of Directors. Feel free to elaborate about your personal experiences with NCARB in the "Comments" section of the petition.

Thank you! (p.s. After you sign the petition there will be a request for a donation. JUST IGNORE IT. You don't have to pay to sign the petition. )

Look - NCARB is about as logical and straight forward a path as there could be. Are they slow? Yes. So is every beuracracy.

another thing; let's please remember who NCARB is and who they represent. if we can't get that right, they won't take this petition seriously. understand their stated role and find criticism within that role.

Thanks farwest1! Your comments were by far the most helpful. I edited the petition per your comments and made some additional edits. Please take another look and sign and foward it along.


Thanks!

Jen

National Council of
Architectural Registration Boards
1801 K Street, NW, Suite 700-K
Washington, DC 20006-1310
202/783-6500 (phone)
202/783-0290 (fax)


NCARB Mission
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is committed to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public through effective regulation and exemplary service.

NCARB Vision
As the facilitator for the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the public, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards:

Requires a NAAB-accredited degree, successful completion of the Intern Development Program (IDP) and successful completion of the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).
Protects and enhances the validity of the Intern Develop Program (IDP) and the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).
Encourages all architects to become Certificate holders.
Advocates for the elimination of impediments to reciprocity.
Serves as the trusted international center of registration data and regulatory information.
Values diversity of opinion and representation.
Promotes recognition of the architect as the primary building professional qualified to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, through the enhancement of the quality of the built environment and the richness of space and form.

Core Values

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards believes in

Integrity
Service
Accountability

NCARB Members
NCARB members are the architectural registration boards of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands). Each registration board has state-appointed public and professional members as well as an administrator.


The italics is where we need to hit them and hard.

good point Hussein!

we have met the enemy and the enemy is us.

so what is with the may 12th deadline? it seems very arbitrary....

I'm trying to give some sort of deadline so people don't just put it aside and forget to do something. I am trying to do something positive and any CONSTRUCTIVE feedback is appreciated. Look, NCARB will never change if we do nothing. Please help.
Thanks.

I'm still gruntled. Give me some time.

I had a NCARB issue which held up my license application for 2 months. But, I got my lawyer involved, paid him about 300.00 and received an apology letter and 1 free record transmittal from NCARB.
My request was then processed within a week.

When dealing with NCARB I'd suggest everyone follow these rules:

1. Send everything USPS certified mail. Use "click and ship" from the USPS web site and print your postage with signature confimation.
Track everything you send them!!

2. Any time you speak with NCARB write down the date and time of the conversation and the person(s) you spoke with. If they say they are going to call you back, ask for a return call within a set period of time (1 week, 1 day, 1 monty, etc.). When they fail to return your call (they usually do) make a note in your "NCARB Phone Notes" book or notepad.

If they deviate in any way from the process and timeline they have posted on their web site, informing them in writing and request a written resposne explaining why their process is taking longer. Inform them that they are holding up your license application process which is causing you a financial hardship by way of prohibiting you from future earnings/business.

If you do all of the above (which I did) and you can present it to a lawyer you can easially make a case that NCARB is preventing you to obtain a license by acting in an unresponsive and negliant manner.

My suspicion though is that since most people do all of the above, they never have any real recourse to hold NCARB accountable.

marlowe has great suggestions for how to deal with them on a one-to-one level. But the question is how do you enact systemic changes? That's what I'm trying to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions about other agencies or groups I should send the petition to in order to get our voices heard?

Thanks!

Ncarb....just can't get any respect! I wonder when Rupert Murdock will buy them?