Officials declined to take live questions at the end of a July 27 webinar that presented an overview of an audit of the shuttered Stone Academy nursing program, the Journal Inquirer reported.
The webinar was attended by 150 and at least 17 former students and reviewed findings released July 18 including that of the 102,471 hours reported on Stone Academy student transcripts 77,858 were invalid — which will force many of the former students to retake courses and re-do clinicals.
"I see many hands raised. However, we are going to take all those questions written in an email form and not answer those individual questions this morning," Timothy Larson, executive director of the Office of Higher Education said during the meeting, according to the Journal Inquirer.
While their tuition will be reimbursed and resources have been shared with the students regarding where to transfer or how to move forward, many students still have questions, the outlet reported.
"I have spoken to hundreds of members of this class and the stories are really heartbreaking," David Slossberg, an attorney for several former Stone Academy students told NBC affiliate WVIT. "You're talking about folks who were just about to graduate or expecting to graduate within weeks or months and sacrifice so much in money and time juggling family work obligations to get this LPN degree but really to advance their career, and they've been in limbo."
The school is being sued by several students as well as the state's attorney general.
Mr. Larson ended the meeting with remarks to students about the importance of prioritizing quality education for all future nurses across the state.
"I believe that this demonstrates the amount of effort and time and concern the state of Connecticut has put into trying to put information out to students, so you can make an adult and informed decision on your future career," Mr. Larson said according to the Journal Inquirer. "There's no doubt that the state of Connecticut needs you in this profession."