The City of Lawrence in conjunction with The National Restaurant Association and the MA Public Health Department has agreed to conduct all ServSafe retesting in the Lawrence Public Library located at 51 Lawrence Street, Lawrence.
They will have access to a large auditorium, multiple computers and audio-visual equipment. The occupancy of the library auditorium is 200 people. The National Restaurant Association has requested a large space so that they can train at least 50 people at a time. We are anticipating retraining and testing approximately 500 ServSafe certificate holders in a week and a half.
The National Restaurant Association has revoked all of the certificates issued by Jorge De Jesus because they could not verify the validity of all the certificates issued by him. The City of Lawrence and the National Restaurant Association agreed that it would be more practical to re-certify all certificate holders at no cost to them so that there would be no doubt as to who is truly certified.
“Assistant City Attorney Brian Corrigan and I have asked the NRA since day one to retrain all restaurant business owners at no cost to them,” said Pat Ruiz, Director of Inspectional Services and Agent to Board of Health for the City of Lawrence. “The NRA was not cooperative initially but eventually has agreed to our demands.”
Inspectional Services would like to assist everyone affected with this unfortunate situation. Anyone seeking assistance with occupancy permits, complaints against landlords, building permits, plumbing permits, board of health issues, weights and measures and licensing issues please contact them at 978 620-3130.
The National Restaurant Association’s summarized plans below for resolving the ServSafe certification issues. A notification letter has been mailed out to examinees of our plan.
– Affected examinees will be required to re-certify within 30 days. Several options will be available (self-study via a free online course, instructor led class and exam, or exam only).
– The City of Lawrence has provided the Lawrence Public Library located at 51 Lawrence St. to make space available for training and exam administration. The space will be large enough for 200 individuals with audio visual capabilities. Space is large enough that examinees can spread out during exam administration and is ADA accessible. Space will be available during both normal business and after normal business hours.
– The City of Lawrence will make facilities available for individuals wishing to take the online course at their own pace. The space will have computers, headphones, and internet access for examinees to take online course. Publically available computers at the library do satisfy all requirements.
– The Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA) has three (3) individuals available who can teach the course in English and Spanish and administer the exam. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) also has two (2) individuals available to teach the course in English with the potential for a third instructor who can teach the course in Spanish. Additional individuals can be brought in proctor just the exam if needed depending on class size (a proctor is needed for every 35 examinees).
– The MRA and the NRA and City of Lawrence have finalized the details for training/testing with the library as of Thursday, August 4th.
– Training/testing letters have been sent to affected examinees by Friday, August 5th.
– The City of Lawrence will assist in the notification of training/testing dates and continue to assist in the enforcement of applicable regulations.
To assist in recertifying, NRA Solutions is offering an opportunity to take the ServSafe® Food Protection Manager Certification Examination (Exam), along with a refresher course, free of charge. These exam sessions will be proctored by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. We are also providing access to our online ServSafe Manager Course, free of charge, for individuals who would like to study on their own.
The free course (8 hours) and exam re-tests are scheduled to take place on the following dates from August 22 to 27 and August 31 from 8 am to 5 pm and August 29 and 30 from 9 am to 12 pm for recertification course and proctored examination.
