New York State Education Department — Attraction in City of Albany

If you are a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and considering relocating to NYS you may want to seriously re-consider. I wasted an entire year time and money attempting to get my license transferred from California where I have been an LCSW for 10 years. It literally takes them 2-3 months to respond to/answer simple “yes/no” questions. Most of the people I talked to either did not know their own policies and/or stood behind erroneous policies. Because I took the California exam NYS is requiring me to start all over again as if i had just graduated with my masters and spend more money/time to take the ASWB exam that has been proven now to have racial inequities baked into it as evidenced by the National Association of Social Workers recent position of”opposition” of the ASWB exam because it clearly violates the NASW Code of Ethics which requires Social Workers to challenge Social Injustice which the ASWB’s exam which has been found to be rife with. According to their own policy however NYS will review another state’s exam process upon request.I made that request several times and was told erroneously by several workers that they had a strict policy of accepting ASWB exams only. After much ado and many wasted months I got through to the board’s gate keeping receptionist to whom i quoted policy directly in a polite/professional manner and requested that the board review the CA exam. The receptionist admitted that there was such policy however they do not appreciate Social Workers who can research policy (2nd major in grad school was Law and Policy) as evidenced by the receptionist’s becoming quite aggressive and then telling me and i quote “ sir who do you think you are?! Do you know WHERE you are?! This is New York sir and you are coming from California…you don’t tell us what to do here in New York! Now I am sending you back to processing where you belong!” So while the policy does exist in writing it is empty ie they do not ever actually utilize it to an applicant’s benefit in reality. So back to the bottom of the ladder where I finally requested a refund. I requested and was told no less than 3 times that i would be mailed a form to fill out and then would receive a refund for the application process and never did receive one. I am sure that the great state of California is not turning out LCSW’s who do not test at the Masters’s level. In fact California was the last state to accept the ASWB exam precisely because they were concerned about the validity of the exam as well as racial inequalities built into it. And in fact the California exams were arguably the most stringent exams in the country. I passed both exams (notoriously difficult with. 50% pass rate) with flying colors the first time around , worked multiple highly clinical in patient settings in addition to almost ten years in a primary care medical setting providing direct psychotherapy provided an NPI and reimbursed by all the major medical insurance groups only to be told by NYS that I cant even qualify as an LMSW! What more does a person need?! There are I am sure many good reasons that NYS is leading the country in de-population my situation being a classic example. One would think I moved here from another country much less a state! I went from a 6 figure salary to $17.00 an hour before taxes job; child care costs me $20.00 an hour i will leave you to do the math. I am getting tired of all the news stories about the lack of health/mental health resources in this state. The Gov of NYS may want to take a look at the licensing process and the lack of professionalism I encountered and payed for the...

Bureaucracy is one problem, and in NYS; there seemingly is more red tape than under Communism, but the resounding miserable nature of the staff is a much bigger problem. My mind’s jury is still deliberating whether 1. relatively affable people accept a position with this government agency and transform into unpleasant horrors, 2. these positions in government agencies attract people with a propensity to become unpleasant horrors, or 3. government agencies hire people who are already unpleasant horrors so they can easily assimilate into the miserable work culture. I own a health care facility. There are difficult days; of course, but each day, I remind myself; it is an honor to serve residents of NYS. When I think of me; someone in private practice, and my appreciation of patients, I wonder about the people manning the phones and going through e-mails at this government Agency. These are “public servants”. Of course they are human, as I am human, but if you randomly select five days of the month, and speak with them over an issue related to their job, the venom permeating from every fiber of their being is jarring. They’re not just having a bad day, they're having a miserable existence. At the end of my very brief conversation with a staff member, after waiting 45 minutes to connect with him, my issue could not be resolved, and it was not the employee’s fault. What was his fault was his decision or perhaps habit to be unsympathetic, to adopt a harsh tone, and display traits of inhumanity. It was my resolve not to allow his despair to permeate my orbit. That would be my advice to all people having to encounter this worker and all like him. Don’t let it get to you. Be patient. When the immediate dealings with this Agency is over, go back to a pleasant existence, or create a pleasant existence, and he is stuck carrying this misery not just from 9 to 5 (which is too long), but 24/7. I am sympathetic his position as a public servant facilitates contact with innocent bystanders who are at the mercy of his...

I was visiting the New York State Capitol and saw this building, what magnificent architecture and complete building was not even coming to one frame, that huge it is. The building is known for its expansive colonnade.

The Education Building of the State of New York was completed in 1912 and was the first major governmental building constructed exclusively for educational purposes.

It houses offices of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and was formerly home to the New York State Museum and New York State Library

The building is 140 feet wide (including the front steps), and 590 feet long. The rear wing is 185 feet by 112 feet. There are 36 hollow, fluted pillars made of Vermont marble that run along the front of the block-long building. Each pillar is...