CPO - Barnyard Slush

Hi all! (and I truly hope Ben sees this)

As some of you may know, I'm currently a resident of Maine. I work for a "summer community" (they buy the cottages, we provide the 7 pools) and am responsible for the pools/ hot tub. As of Sept. last year, to do my job, I'm supposed to be a CPO :mad:. I've talked with the woman in charge of HHS and she ~ won't accept my 23 years of experience nor a less expensive class (American Lifeguard Ass.) as being "recognized" (even though she never had heard of the course). I'll tell y'all that I am PISSED! There are things in the "rules" that 'fly in the face' of proper sanitation and pool management which I would throw in the face of ANYONE trying to tell me differently!:mad:

I'll probably just take the course and pay 'lip service' to the instructor so as to get my certificate, but, knowing that certain parts are WRONG!!! - I want to petition the legislature to correct things!

Knowing what I do about pool chemistry v.s. their rules (thanks to being on this site :cool:)

I know Ben is a CPO instructor and I'd LOVE to hear his input on this!

If you take a CPO course than you can see if the instructor is strictly following the book or if they are giving additional or corrected information such as what I have written in the Certified Pool Operator (CPO) training -- What is not taught thread and associated detailed report of suggestions (linked to in that thread).

Richard, it was mostly your info, which I've read and ~ digested that makes me unhappy about the CPO course:cool:

I will use your threads/ info if I end up going before the state legislature


THANK YOU!!! for your work in correcting what the chem companies/ NSPI tell the folks who make pool rules!

Nothing new -- when I took the CPO class for the first time, years ago (1990, I think) I scored a 92 or 94 on the exam. Well, I didn't think I'd missed any, so I looked at the test very carefully.

Lo and behold, I had missed one, but I was right on the other 2 or 3 questions: the key was wrong. The original CPO manual author -- a Dr Van Rossen -- was one of the proctors, so I pointed out the errors to him.

His response? "What difference does it make? You only had to get a 70 to pass?"

Several years later, when I was teaching the CPO class, I carefully went through all 150 or 180 CPO test questions (there were an 'A', 'B', 'C' tests), and found 15+ errors. I still have, somewhere, the letter I sent to the NSPF noting the errors and offering corrections.

Silly me! I thought they'd welcome the corrections. Boy, was I ever wrong!

Ben

PS. I should have caught on, when I discovered that "DOCTOR van Rossen", who went nowhere without his title, was an EdD in physical education, rather than a PhD in a technical field.

PPS. You have to remember that the NSPSI and the NSPF were funded by the chemical companies, and that the $1,000,0000,0000+ per year chem biz would drop below $400,000,000 per year if the methods and facts found here were taught to all dealers and operators. Effective, pertinent, and accurate dealer and commercial operator training would still seriously damage Biolab's bottom line.

Ben, THANK YOU!!! for taking the time to respond to my post! :)

I think I can handle paying 'lip service' to someone who probably doesn't know as much as I do, just to get certified. As a concerned pool dude, I'd love to be able to get someone in the state legislature to listen to me and adjust the laws on acceptable pool chemistry (however, like you said, there is a $$$$ lobby working against me :mad:)

I'll do as I will and try to work up from the local health inspector to get the attention of those who can actually make the proper changes :cool:

Good luck, Ted!

Despite the fact that B-B-B is getting more well-known via the Web, it's still, for the vast part of North America, sets us off as "weirdos". The levels of ignorance passed off as expertise is found by all of us wherever we are: in Maine, West Va, PA, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and even, (gasp!) New Jersey, just to name a few.

I had a dentist back in Virginia who had a sign on his wall that read something like: There is nothing the doctor can do that the patient can't undo.

Y'know--the light-bulb has to want to change.