CARMEL, Ind., April 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ITT
Educational Services, Inc. (ITT/ESI) is disappointed that the
Office of the Massachusetts
Attorney General recently filed suit. The litigation
follows the Office's wide-ranging fishing expedition that lasted
for more than three years. Although ITT/ESI cooperated fully
in the investigation, and presented evidence that its conduct was
lawful, the Attorney General's Office has suddenly elected
litigation over working with ITT/ESI to address any legitimate
concerns it might have about ITT/ESI's practices.
ITT/ESI also regrets that the Attorney General's Office, despite
its lengthy investigation, provided no notice to ITT/ESI of many of
its accusations until days before filing suit. Even then, the
Attorney General's Office withheld all but the vaguest description
of its claims and denied ITT/ESI any meaningful opportunity to
provide further information that could have addressed those
issues.
Moreover, some of the claims rest on a biased and selective
portrayal of the facts. For example, the complaint purports
to identify "actual" placement rates for graduates of the ITT
Technical Institutes but omits any explanation for how the Office
calculated those rates. It appears that the Attorney
General's Office generated its own unreliable placement rates based
on incomplete information it collected by surveying a small subset
of individuals many years after they graduated. ITT/ESI has
contemporaneous documentation of the placement rates and has
painstakingly explained to the Attorney General's Office how that
documentation was derived and collected.
The complaint also quotes testimony out of context and
disregards key facts demonstrating the institution's genuine
commitment to securing outstanding job opportunities for its
graduates and to producing reliable and well-documented placement
statistics. ITT/ESI is confident that the facts will
demonstrate that its policies and practices were sound, and that
its representations were both fair and truthful.
The Attorney General's action is all the more disappointing
because it extends Massachusetts'
woeful record of hostility toward career colleges that train
non-traditional and underserved students. At a time when
Massachusetts is experiencing a
severe shortage of technically-trained professionals, this action
will have a negative effect on the education and employment climate
in Massachusetts.
ITT/ESI will dedicate the necessary resources to defend
ourselves against these claims; and the ongoing focus of our more
than 10,000 employees across the nation remains on assisting our
students' efforts to complete their programs of study successfully
and obtain employment in their chosen fields. We are proud of
our work over the last 47 years, and we intend to continue our
mission of helping people improve their lives through the pursuit
of high-quality, career-based education.
About ITT Educational Services, Inc.
ITT Educational
Services, Inc. (NYSE: ESI) provides technology-oriented
undergraduate and graduate degree programs through its
accredited ITT Technical Institutes and Daniel
Webster College to help students develop skills and knowledge
that they can use to pursue career opportunities in a variety of
fields. It owns and operates more than 130 ITT Technical Institutes
and Daniel Webster College. ITT/ESI
serves approximately 45,000 students as of December 31, 2015 at its campuses in 39 states
and online. Through the Center for Professional Development @
ITT Technical Institute, ITT/ESI
provides short-term information technology and business learning
solutions for career advancers and other professionals.
Headquartered in Carmel, IN,
ITT/ESI has been actively involved in the higher education
community since 1969 and can be found online
at www.ittesi.com.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/itt-educational-services-rejects-the-massachusetts-attorney-generals-claims-300245580.html
SOURCE ITT Educational Services, Inc.