October 2020

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4 Florida Pool Prosm • October 2020
FSPA PRESIDENT
David Pruette
FSPA President
Apprenticeships build commitment
A: No, the FPPS, CPO and other public pool service technician
certification courses do not authorize the certification holder to repair pools
and spas or pool and spa equipment. These courses grant students a
non-license certification (NLC) that allows them to operate and maintain
(clean, test water, and apply chemicals) public swimming pools and spas.
Under Florida Administrative Code 64E-9.018 anyone who maintains public
pools must be certified and dictates the content of any course that grants
certification. Currently the Florida Department of Health recognizes nine
(9) non-license certification (NLC) course to meet the Public Pool Service
Technician Certification requirement for public swimming pools and spas.
S *** You Should Know
Q: Does the FPPS, CPO, or any other of the Florida public pool
service technician certification courses allow someone to repair
pools/spas or pool/spa equipment?
I am very excited about the new developments
FSPA has been working on in the apprenticeship
program. This has been headed by FSPA’s Education
Program Manager Mary Anderson. There have been
many more hoops to jump through than you can
imagine to get the program approved.
If you aren't familiar with how these programs work,
let me tell you my story.
An apprenticeship program played a vital role in my
career. I started out in a pre-apprenticeship program
right out of high school because there was so much