Emergencies or Questions During the Commissioner Visit
DOSWA recognizes that scheduled visits may need to be delayed or cancelled due to special circumstances beyond the control of relevant parties. Examples of these special circumstances include inclement weather conditions, natural or manmade disasters, or changes to visitor’s or key personnel’s schedules due to unforeseen personal matters. As this list is not exhaustive, the visitor or program is encouraged to contact CSWE’s site visit coordinator to discuss special circumstances that may affect the completion of the visit. Cancelling or delaying a visit is an extenuating circumstance. Due to complexity in scheduling visits, cancellations and delays will be avoided whenever possible.
Should an emergency arise before the visit occurs requiring the visitor or program to delay or cancel the visit, CSWE’s site visit coordinator should be notified immediately via telephone and email. To inform the DOSWA of any delays or cancellations to a planned visit:
- The party (visitor or program) must immediately notify the site visit coordinator of the delay or cancellation along with the other party (visitor or program) via telephone and email
- The program, visitor, and site Visitor Coordinator must communicate to determine the best course of action:
- Delay visit
- Reschedule visit with same visitor for a later date
- Reschedule visit with an alternate visitor* for the original date
- Reschedule visit with an alternate visitor* for a later date
*If the program and visitor are unable to select a new visit date, the site visitor coordinator may work directly with the program to assign an alternate visitor if available. The delayed or rescheduled visit is based upon the alternate visitor’s availability.
Responsibility of Fees Incurred
The program will be responsible for any fees associated with the delayed or rescheduled the visit. Programs are advised to purchase refundable and transferrable transportation and accommodations to avoid incurring fees in the event of visit cancellation or delay.
Should an emergency arise during the visit requiring a visitor or program to leave the visit early, the site visit coordinator should be notified immediately via telephone and email. These occurrences will be handled on an individual basis.
If the site visit coordinator is unavailable, the DOSWA director or accreditation specialist may be contacted.
Questions During the Visit
Logistical questions related to visit, including concerns about boundary or ethical issues, scheduling, transportation, accommodations, or reimbursement* may be directed to the site visit coordinator.
*Per policy 2.3.4. Program Preparation for the Site Visit, requesting visitors to complete W-9 forms in order to be reimbursed is not supported by the CSWE or the DOSWA.
Visitors or a program’s primary contact may contact the program’s accreditation specialist at any time to clarify an accreditation standard or the Commission on Accreditation’s policies or procedure, such as:
- Interpretation of an accreditation standard
- Clarification of the letter of instruction
- EPAS Handbook policies and procedures
If the site visit coordinator or accreditation specialist is unavailable, the DOSWA director may be contacted.
Reimbursement for Out-of-Pocket Expenses
It is the policy of the Commission on Accreditation that:
- Programs are to provide prepaid airline tickets to site/commission visitors.
- Programs should consult with the site/commission visitors about the most convenient airline carrier and flight times.
- Programs should inform site/commission visitors about transportation from the airport to the hotel and campus.
- Programs should house site/commission visitors in hotels, not in dormitories or other campus housing.
- Programs should arrange for hotels to bill the program for site/commission visitors’ expenses minus personal expenses.
- Hotel accommodations should be arranged so that site/commission visitors have a place to work on the site visit report.
- Ground transportation and meals not taken at the hotel are likely to be out-of-pocket expenses and programs should inform site/commission visitors how reimbursement for these will be managed.