Industry News: District Administrations’ Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards Program

District Administration has opened its nomination period for the 2013 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards! PublicSchoolWORKS has achieved this distinction five years in a row and is aiming for a sixth! With your help, we will achieve it!

To nominate either or both of our suites, go to www.districtadministration.com/top100 and fill out and submit the nomination form by September 1, 2013.

We appreciate your nomination of PublicSchoolWORKS’ award-winning suites to be among the top ed-tech products!

Product Highlight: MSDS Now! - Bronze

Schools are required to provide ample access to Safety Data Sheet (SDS) information for chemicals brought into a school. Having this information readily accessible is necessary for day-to-day use of chemicals and is essential in the case of a chemical spill.

As any administrator can attest to, compiling this information and ensuring that staff is trained to effectively use them is a difficult task. Mesa Public Schools (MPS) in Mesa, AZ, felt the burden of meeting this requirement and was looking for a solution that would manage these compliance-related tasks. MPS began the process by implementing an online MSDS provider, but found that progressing to a functional state of use was not as timely as the district needed.

After little success with this provider, MPS decided to switch to PublicSchoolWORKS. PublicSchoolWORKS’ systems were created by former school administrators and are designed specifically for schools. PublicSchoolWORKS understands that schools need systems that are easy to implement and use because of the many regulatory obligations to uphold.

MSDS Now! - Bronze allows staff to easily find SDSs, print labels as necessary and provide other information to improve the safety of schools when dealing with chemicals. Staff can go online to access SDS, and even more importantly, call and talk to a chemical safety specialist when needed, thus eliminating the need for SDS binders and lightening the load for administrators.

MSDS Now! - Bronze also features tools to help administrators spread awareness about SDS policies. Administrators are provided instructional posters and labels to educate staff about how to access SDS information using the MSDS Now! - Bronze system. PublicSchoolWORKS also provides a section-by-section guide to reading an SDS to help staff understand how to effectively read and use the SDS.

To learn how your district can use MSDS Now! - Bronze, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Customer Highlight: Forest Hills goes Self-Insured with PublicSchoolWORKS

Choosing between using an insurance provider or being self-insured was one of the big decisions Forest Hills School District (FHSD) in Cincinnati, OH, was considering in 2010. While deciding to go self-insured can be a scary endeavor for school administrators, using an effective safety management system provides a safety net.  FHSD was looking to save money by going self-insured, but needed the safety net of to ensure their entire safety program was being implemented, managed and sustained, and they did so with PublicSchoolWORKS.

To begin the process, FHSD began evaluating two parts of its safety program: staff training and accident management. The district had implemented an online training service several years before that it had received for free; however, the service did not meet the district’s needs for safety or compliance.  Additionally, this program did not offer an accident management mechanism - a service the district needed. FHSD was using a paper- and pen-based reporting process, resulting in a waiting pattern for the claim to be processed and zero accountability for whoever processed or investigated the claim.

Based on these evaluations, FHSD knew the free staff training service would not be enough to meet the requirements of an effective safety program for a self-insured district. To serve its need for compliance, FHSD decided to switch to PublicSchoolWORKS in December of 2011.

With PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite, FHSD was able to effectively implement its safety program. The online accident reporting and training systems auto-notify administrators via email when actions need to be completed in order to stay in compliance with mandates. Additionally, the EmployeeSafe Suite automatically produces forms required by the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program (PERRP) to keep FHSD in compliance with state workers’ compensation mandates.

The move to being self-insured, although considered a leap of faith by some, was a well-planned and executed venture for FHSD. The district is able to more swiftly make necessary safety changes and stay on top of compliance. After just one year of implementation, the district saved $211,000 in insurance costs.

 “The connectivity PublicSchoolWORKS provides is huge,” said Rick Toepfer, treasurer at FHSD. “The implementation paid for itself and then some. It is managing processes for us and was worth the money because we feel much more in control of what is happening in our administrative processes. It was results driven - it had to work and it did.”

To learn more about how your district can use PublicSchoolWORKS to go self-insured, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

School Safety in the News

School Safety App at Honeysuckle

City and school district officials conduct school safety audit

In response to Newtown shooting, some states move to put guns in classrooms

School safety, mass shootings among topics at annual public safety summit

Six months after Sandy Hook shootings, schools seek secure redesigns

Industry News: District Administrations’ Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards Program

District Administration has opened its nomination period for the 2013 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards! PublicSchoolWORKS has achieved this distinction five years in a row and is aiming for a sixth! With your help, we will achieve it!

To nominate either or both of our suites, go to www.districtadministration.com/top100 and fill out and submit the nomination form by September 1, 2013.

We appreciate your nomination of PublicSchoolWORKS’ award-winning suites to be among the top ed-tech products!

Research Update: Childhood Bullying and its Effects Later in Life

StopBullying.gov posted information about a recent study from Duke University focused on the effects of bullying. The study found that victims of childhood bullying have a higher risk of developing mental health problems as adults.

Researchers studied more than 1,000 youth starting at ages 9, 11 and 13 and interviewed them until they turned 16. The study found that bullied youth are at higher risk for developing agoraphobia, anxiety and panic disorders and antisocial personality disorders. Within the study group, females had an increased risk for agoraphobia and males had an increased risk for suicidal tendencies. To read the whole study, click here.

As the study finds, there is a very real and serious effect of childhood bullying on quality of life. PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP) is a comprehensive program that includes staff and student training, reporting tools, anti-bullying posters and other tools to properly prepare students, staff and schools. The combination of automatic alerts for administrators, staff and student training and community communication mechanisms makes the SBVPP the ultimate tool for addressing bullying and student violence.

To learn how your school can use the SBVPP for bullying and student violence prevention, email sales@publicschoolworks.com

Product Highlight: Student Bullying Reporting System

When it comes to employee and student data, it is imperative that information is limited only to the appropriate administrators based on their role, responsibility with each report type and their individual security level.  PublicSchoolWORKS’ accident management systems —the Employee Accident Management System and Student Accident Management System-- and safety issue reporting systems—Student  Bullying Reporting System, Student Safety Reporting System, Staff Misconduct Reporting System and Hazard Reporting System — automatically notify and engage the appropriate individuals that a report has been submitted for immediate action. Nobody is required to log-in and review a report to determine the appropriate person to take action. Also, all data is secure, providing access only to the people at each school or at a district level that the district has deemed necessary to have it.

Unlike other providers who combine reporting systems into one, potentially unsecure, system, PublicSchoolWORKS has specifically created specific systems for each report type based on role and responsibility with immediate notification of all appropriate individuals to prevent schools from unnecessary liability issues. By keeping reporting systems separate, PublicSchoolWORKS is ensuring that confidential information about students, staff and visitors is not accessible to people who have no business seeing it. In addition to securing information, separate systems simplify the process of determining who should take action as the recipients are defined in the system based on the report type and when a report is submitted, the system auto-notifies the correct administrator.  A system that notifies the appropriate administrator when a report has been submitted ensures timely results. In addition to the auto-notification, PublicSchoolWORKS staff reviews all student bullying and safety reports and a call tree has been established allowing us to make contact with district staff in the event of an emergency report, regardless of the time of day.

For example, PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Bullying Reporting System is specifically for students to report bullying concerns. Both online and telephone mechanisms allow students to report bullying incident details. Once a report is submitted, the designated principal is immediately alerted via email to get involved and document the result of their investigation. This comprehensive reporting system ensures that bullying concerns are being addressed with the speed and intensity that they deserve.

See future stories about PublicSchoolWORKS’ other reporting systems:

• · Student Accident Management System
•  Confidential/Sexual Misconduct Reporting System

To learn how your district can implement the Student Bullying Reporting System, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Customer Highlight: Streamlining Bullying and Student Violence Incident Reporting and Investigation with Cleveland ISD

Cleveland Independent School District in Cleveland, TX, was experiencing severe bullying and student violence incidents in the district. Prior to implementing PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite and Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP), it, like most districts, received handwritten bullying reports submitted to an administrator. This paper process left room for mistakes and oftentimes led to long and sometimes inconclusive investigations.

In addition to its inefficient reporting process, Cleveland ISD did not offer training for staff or students regarding bullying or student violence incidents. Educating staff and students on the proper way to handle these situations is vital to ensuring the safety of students.

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, Cleveland ISD implemented PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite and Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP) and saw its processes and response to incidents improve dramatically.

“Implementing the PublicSchoolWORKS system allows us to easily report and gather the data we need when making decisions about student safety,” said Karin Miller, Assistant Superintendent of Special Programs at Cleveland ISD. “Staff members are now trained on key student safety topics such as bullying prevention, suicide prevention and depression in students. The program also gives students and parents the ability to report incidents electronically and auto-notifies appropriate administrators of a report based their security level, thus ensuring that issues are being addressed as quickly as possible.”

Instead of chasing down paper incident reports and potentially misplacing them, administrators get an alert via email when a report is filed. All actions regarding an incident are documented and maintained within the system, giving administrators easy access to data and the ability to pull trend reports. 

Both staff and students now have access to an abundance of information about bullying and student violence prevention. Anonymous reporting mechanisms, hotlines and parent portals are new and very beneficial tools that are now available to the Cleveland ISD community. Even the district’s police department is involved with the student safety program. Each police officer receives training on various issues to ensure they understand some of the situations Cleveland ISD’s students face.

“The administrative processes surrounding student safety concerns are much easier to track now that PublicSchoolWORKS is managing it,” said Miller. “We are confident that our staff and students know the appropriate actions to take should they encounter a bullying or student violence incident. PublicSchoolWORKS has allowed us to shift our focus from damage control to education.”

To learn more about how your district can use EmployeeSafe Suite and the SBVPP to streamline student safety, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

School Safety in the News

State Board Hears Ways to Boost School Safety

State may require shooting-incident drills at schools

Teacher removes explosives from Colorado school

Ottawa school board to review teen rugby player's death

Local governments and schools could see $113 million in rebates

Industry News: District Administrations’ Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards Program

District Administration has opened their nomination period for the 2013 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards! PublicSchoolWORKS has achieved this distinction five years in a row and is aiming for a sixth! With your help, we will achieve it!

To nominate either or both of our suites, go to www.districtadministration.com/top100 to fill out and submit the nomination form by September 1, 2013.

We appreciate your nomination of PublicSchoolWORKS’ award-winning suites to be among the top ed-tech products!

Customer Highlight: Intervening Before Issues Escalate: Student Behavior Management with Dublin Schools

For Dublin City Schools, Ohio’s 12^th largest school district with 19 schools and 14,400 enrolled students, traditional paper processes for recording and tracking student behavior issues was cumbersome. Dublin needed a more reliable and timely system.

PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Behavior Management System was the solution for Dublin City Schools. The system automates and streamlines the administrative process related to student behavior concerns, thus improving and speeding up the communication between teachers and administrators and assuring schools are in compliance with reporting issues.

The Student Behavior Management System allows administrators to easily track referrals, documentation, and positive behavior reports, as well as pull behavior trend reports. The system helps schools stay in compliance with state and federal mandates by automating the exportation of behavior records to state and federal agencies. It also eliminates school duplicate entries and recordkeeping.

Dublin City Schools was able to easily streamline processes in order to effectively address both negative and positive behavior, while increasing effectiveness and recordkeeping.

“The Student Behavior Management system creates a better environment for students by eliminating bullying, promoting better attendance and rewarding positive behavior,” said Santa-Emma. “It solves problems before they start.”

To learn more about how your district can use the StudentWatch Suite to streamline student behavior management, email sales@publicschoolworks.com

Customer Highlight: Using Student Behavior Management to Achieve with Kings Local School District

In 2011, Kings Local School’s Kings Junior High School (KJHS) applied for the Ohio Department of Education’s Ohio School to Watch (OSTW) program. The OSTW program recognizes exemplary middle schools that achieve academically, are socially equitable and developmentally responsive and have an organizational structure in place to support these goals. The program also required that students know and meet behavioral expectations of the staff, parents, district and community. 

Using PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Behavior Management System, Kings Local was able to develop a student behavior program that was easy to implement and enforce.

Automating the recordkeeping and reporting of student behavior incidents, the Student Behavior Management System streamlines communication between teachers and administrators. It also ensures that schools are in compliance with reporting mandates.

KJHS was named an Ohio School to Watch for the 2011-2012 school year and was one of only three schools in the state to receive this prestigious designation. PublicSchoolWORKS was deemed to have been a key piece in achieving this recognition as the Student Behavior Management System helped addressed key metrics.

To learn more about how your district can use the StudentWatch Suite to streamline student behavior management, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

School Safety in the News

Attorney general to announce awards for school safety ideas

School safety: Officer enforces law, not school policy, when walking halls

School-shooting simulation hones safety officers' skills

L.A. Schools Hire Security Aides To Watch For Threats

Customer Highlight: Achieving a Certificate of Recognition with Chinook’s Edge

Earning a Certificate of Recognition (COR) for workplace safety was a major goal for Chinook’s Edge School Division 73 in Alberta, Canada. Meeting the safety standards required for certification would not only significantly reduce injury rates; it would also earn the division premium rebates through the Workers Compensation Board’s (WCB) Partnerships in Injury Reduction (PIR) program.

As the sole Safety Officer for the rural division’s 38 campuses, Linden Lonsberry is tasked with conducting investigations, training or re-training workers, managing safety tasks, making safety recommendations and addressing hazard and near-miss reports. Because of his already full workload, he needed help developing a health and safety program that met the rigorous standards put forth by the WCB.

To accomplish this, Lonsberry used the EmployeeSafe Suite to schedule, manage and sustain his safety program, which includes staff training, incident management, safety tasks (inspections, drills and other tasks) and more. With the help of EmployeeSafe Suite, Lonsberry knew the required training, safety tasks, and responses to accident and near-miss reports had been completed and he was able to easily provide the division’s inspection documents for the auditors’ review.

In order to be eligible for a COR audit, a health and safety program has to consist of the following eight elements:

·         Management, leadership and organizational commitment

·         Hazard identification and assessment

·         Hazard control

·         Ongoing inspections

·         Emergency response

·         Qualification, orientation and training

·         Accident and incident investigation

·         Program administration

“PublicSchoolWORKS helped us meet the COR requirements, with four out of the eight elements being completely automated—making them hands-off for administration,” said Lonsberry.

Receiving the COR has earned the division a 20 percent reduction in WCB premiums – a savings of approximately $43,000 per year. Using the EmployeeSafe Suite, Chinook’s Edge also saw fewer injuries and a reduction in injury-related costs. The division’s WCB claims totaled nearly $250,000 in 2003; they are now approximately $20,000, putting Chinook’s Edge 51.69 percent below the industry average for WCB claims.

To learn more about how Chinooks Edge uses PublicSchoolWORKS, click here. 

Industry News: District Administrations’ Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards Program

District Administration has opened their nomination period for the 2013 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products Awards! PublicSchoolWORKS has been able to achieve this distinction five years in a row and is aiming for a sixth! And, with your help, we will achieve it!

To nominate either of our suites, go to www.districtadministration.com/top100 to fill out and submit the nomination form by September 1, 2013.

We appreciate your nomination of PublicSchoolWORKS’ award-winning suites to be among the top ed-tech products!

Customer Highlight: Taking the “Knot in My Stomach” Worries Out of Compliance with Montgomery County Educational Service Center

As Montgomery County Educational Service Center’s Director of Human Resources, Beverly Broestl oversees the acquisition of new employees, staff training, teacher licensure, as well as the health and safety the Center’s 330 employees. In addition to all of these responsibilities, Broestl also has to ensure that all of her schools are in compliance with the numerous Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. The required annual reporting associated with OSHA alone could take weeks to compile.

“Compliance was always on my mind,” said Broestl. “We constantly worried about an OSHA visit. We were nervous that they would find something that we missed.”

To ensure complete compliance with the many OSHA requirements, the Center implemented PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe suite to help automate the tracking, management and completion of compliance tasks, staff accident reporting and staff training.

Instead of trying to keep up with the daunting task of managing MSDS binders, , employees  call to talk to chemical specialists or they print MSD sheets straight from EmployeeSafe’s MSDS Now!  online system. In addition, from a training perspective, Broestl and supervisors automatically receive reports letting them know who has not completed their assigned training. And, to help reduce worker’s compensation claims, the system auto-notifies key staff to complete safety tasks and the resulting data helps to implement programs to effectively prevent further injuries and claims.

Using EmployeeSafe, the Center was able to streamline safety, risk management, human resources and other administrative processes, saving valuable time and money.

“PublicSchoolWORKS takes away the knot in your stomach,” said Broestl. “It takes away that worry, day and night, that I am forgetting something. It is peace of mind.”

To learn more about how your district can use the EmployeeSafe Suite to streamline human resources, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Industry News: Student Bullying and Safety Reporting Systems named EdTech Digest Awards Winner

PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Bullying and Safety Reporting Systems were selected as the Cool Tool - Reporting Solution winner in this year’s EdTech Digest Awards Recognition Program.  The Parent InfoCenter was named a finalist in the Cool Tool - Parent/Student Portal Solution category. This awards program, now in its third year, honors tools, trendsetters and leaders in the education and technology trades.

This is the third consecutive year that PublicSchoolWORKS was recognized by the program. In 2012, Steve Temming, president and CEO of PSW, was named a Leadership Award finalist in the program. In 2011, the Student Bullying Reporting System and the EmployeeSafe Staff Training and Compliance Management System were both named Cool Tool Award winners.

To view the full list of 2013 finalists and winners, click here. 

In the News: Student Bus Behavior

Bus drivers are tasked with ensuring students get to and from school safely, in addition to making sure students behave during the trip. To help students better understand what is appropriate bus etiquette, Abbey Ardiana, a student at Montana’s Sentinel High School, decided to create a bus safety instructional video and included in the cast, a bus-full of Franklin Elementary students.  The film is one of six that Ardiana is creating for the Montana Behavioral Initiative (MBI), a statewide effort to teach students clear expectations of positive behavior. To learn more about the video and the MBI, click here. 

When bus drivers in the Galion City School District in Galion, OH experienced student behavior issues, they had to write a behavior report and hand-deliver it to the appropriate administrator. The process of filing and investigating the report could take up to three days, meanwhile bus drivers did not know what discipline, if any, the student received.

Once the district started using PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Behavior Management System, administration knew it would be beneficial to train the bus drivers on how to fill out the online student behavior reports. After the initial training, filling out the form was intuitive. Now when an incident occurs, bus drivers go back to the garage and submit an online behavior report. The system auto-emails administrators to ensure the investigation and resolution start immediately. Bus drivers can now rest easy knowing that administration is addressing student discipline issues in a timely manner. To learn more about how Galion City School District uses PublicSchoolWORKS, click here. 

Customer Spotlight: Using Technology to “Green” Galion City School District Processes

Technology has definitely impacted education. Not only is technology being used to increase student interaction in the classroom, it is being used to decrease paper and ink usage in districts. This not only lowers district spending, but it creates a more eco-friendly approach to district operations.

Galion City School District in Galion, OH has decreased its printing costs and impact on the environment by moving away from traditional communication methods. Instead of sending important documents home with students, parents can access digital versions on the district’s website. Galion has further perpetuated its “green” initiative by switching from traditional paper record-keeping to using PublicSchoolWORKS’ web-based system for addressing staff and student safety initiatives.

By using PublicSchoolWORKS’ StudentWatch system, Galion was able to eliminate the paper associated with student behavior reporting because all reporting is done online. When an incident occurs, employees simply fill out a Student Behavior Referral or a Student Documentation Report. When the report is submitted, the system automatically notifies administrators as appropriate of the incident. The Student Behavior Management System interfaces with Ohio’s statewide student database to automatically input required discipline information without any effort required of Galion.

The district expanded its use of PublicSchoolWORKS to include the EmployeeSafe Suite to manage their entire safety program. The system ensures that drills, inspections and other required safety tasks are completed without burdening administration. Additionally, the training system ensures staff complete mandatory training, freeing up valuable in-service days and eliminating paper training logs. Employees can also report staff accidents and near miss incidents online, ensuring that claims and reports do not get lost in a paper trail and get filed quickly.

Transitioning to a digital approach for district processes has been beneficial for both Galion City Schools and the environment. To learn more about how your district can “go green” with PublicSchoolWORKS, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Industry News: eSchool News Readers’ Choice Awards

The eSchool News Readers’ Choice Awards are now open! eSchool News is looking for ed-tech products and services that are relevant, beneficial, efficient, and cost-effective. We appreciate your nomination of PublicSchoolWORKS’ award-winning suites to be among the top ed-tech products!

To nominate EmployeeSafe or StudentWatch, go to www.eschoolnews.com/rca/ to fill out and submit the simple nomination form by April 26, 2013.

IMPORTANT: Nominations may be submitted only by practicing educators. Each nomination must be accompanied by a valid school or college email address.

PSW Program Highlight: The New Crisis Response Program

PublicSchoolWORKS’ new comprehensive Crisis Response Program is a district-specific program designed to ensure that school staff and the facilities where they work, as well as local agencies, are prepared to act in the event of a crisis, whether it be an active shooter, bomb / IED or other crisis event.

The program’s training courses include staff training such as Bomb Threat/IED Preparedness, Emergency Response Procedures and School Lockdown Drills, and two different Active Shooter Response courses — Active Shooter Response - Lockdown, Barricade, Escape and Active Shooter Response - Lockdown, Barricade, Escape, Counter Attack.

The new Active Shooter courses teach employees to identify when it is safest to secure or barricade a classroom, as well as when it is appropriate to hide and/or evacuate in the event of an active shooter situation. The courses also instruct staff how to interact with law enforcement officials so they do not hinder law enforcement efforts.

In addition to this information, the Active Shooter Response - Lockdown, Barricade, Escape, Counter Attack course helps staff understand how to properly flee, and as a last resort, use physical aggression to scare off or surprise and overpower the shooter.

The Crisis Response Program also includes safety tasks that manage the timing of drills and other activities — such as Crisis Response Drills, Ongoing Security Maintenance and Building-specific Tasks — for administrators, as well as the review of plans, procedures and informational forms with staff, parents and local agencies.

And, to engage parents in the process, the Crisis Response Program provides the PublicSchoolWORKS Parent InfoCenter. The Parent InfoCenter gives students, parents and other members of the community access to the Student Bullying & Safety Reporting Systems and national crisis hotlines, as well as providing parents access to student safety information. This allows parents to be just as informed concerning the signs of bullying or other student safety issues.

While training is extremely important to ensuring school safety, effective crisis plans provide both sufficient preventative measures for schools and ample information and communication tools for both parents and students. To learn more about how your district can prepare for school crises with the Crisis Response Program, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

New Course Highlight: Active Shooter

PublicSchoolWORKS has added two active shooter training courses to its catalog: Active Shooter Response - Lockdown, Barricade, Escape and Active Shooter Response - Lockdown, Barricade, Escape, Counter Attack.

Both courses teach employees to identify when it is safest to secure or barricade a classroom, as well as when it is appropriate to hide and/or evacuate in the event of an active shooter situation. The courses also instruct staff how to interact with law enforcement officials during and after active shooter situations so they do not hinder law enforcement efforts

In addition to this information, the Counter Attack course helps staff understand when it is best to flee in a manner that will save the most lives such as running in a zigzag pattern and spreading out and, as a last resort, using physical aggression to scare off or surprise and overpower the shooter.  To learn more about this course, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

New Course Highlight: Permissible Use of Seclusion and Restraint

PublicSchoolWORKS has launched the Permissible Use of Seclusion and Restraint course to help districts meet the U.S. Department of Education’s new guidelines.  Designed to address the 15 new guidelines put out by the U.S. DOE, the course trains educators how to appropriately restrain students in the event they become physically harmful to their peers, identify when physical restraint or seclusion is necessary and how to accomplish restraint or seclusion following the 15 new standards. To learn more about these 15 guidelines, click here. To learn more about this course, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

New Course Highlight: Suicide Prevention (Jason Flatt Act)

As of 2012, The Jason Flatt Act has been implemented in ten states nationwide. The act mandates that educators receive suicide prevention training along with their other annual required in-service courses. The training helps educators identify the warning signs of children contemplating suicide and teaches them how to appropriately handle and report the situation. To find out more about the act and the Jason Foundation, click here. To learn more about this course, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

PSW Program Highlight: Student Bullying & Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP)

PublicSchoolWORKS’ SBVPP is the only complete program to help school districts support students experiencing bullying, violence and other school safety issues. The program includes a Task Scheduler that auto-manages the timing, notification, tracking and completion of all associated tasks, such as period posting and distribution of anti-bullying posters, periodic or annual distribution of labels and meeting with key internal and external parties to review data.  This ensures schools are in compliance with district, local, state or federal requirements.

Courses are available to train students on violence and bullying concerns and how to report them and to train staff t on how to effectively handle bullying and violence issues. Students can use the provided reporting tools - the Student Bullying Reporting System and Student Safety Reporting System - to anonymously report bullying and violence concerns. The SBVPP also provides schools with informational posters, handouts and stickers for students to remind them to use the resources available to them.

To complete the system, SBVPP also comes with the Parent InfoCenter. The Parent InfoCenter gives parents access to the reporting systems and national crisis hotlines, as well as access to the same bullying training that students and staff receive at school.

Cleveland Independent School District (ISD) began using the SBVPP this year to manage bullying and violence training for staff, as well as the reporting and tracking of bullying and violence incidents. “With all of the duties our district is tasked with on a daily basis, this system gives us the ability to focus more on education and less on tracking down staff and following paper trails,” said Karin Miller, the assistant superintendent of Special Programs at Cleveland ISD.

An effective anti-bullying and anti-violence program includes effective strategies along with reporting mechanisms, training and other tools for staff, students and parents. To learn more about how your district can use the SBVPP, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

New Training Alert: Active Shooter Response Training (Video for Students)

PublicSchoolWORKS has added a new safety video to its training catalog. The video, Active Shooter Response Training (Video for Students), covers the new active shooter training model ALICE: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. This new training encourages students and teachers to think strategically and be proactive should a shooting occur. Traditionally, training for active shooter situations had consisted of finding shelter and waiting for authorities to arrive. However, studies have shown that solely using this response may actually increase the number of causalities. 

To learn more about PSW’s Active shooter training or any other courses in PSW’s Staff Training system, email sales@publicschoolworks.com...

One of the major benefits of the PSW Safety Training System is that it will alert staff when training must be completed. Rockwood School District’s Director of Human Resources, Katie Reboulet, uses the system to ensure that her staff members complete their assigned training courses on time and the system automatically notifies her who has not completed training.

“Within one week of the compliance due date, all of our staff had completed their training,” said Reboulet. “The best thing is that we can now easily ensure that our employees have completed the training. The difference between this automated system and our former paper-based one is night and day.”

When former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Martin Springer bailed out of jail -- accused of lewd conduct with a child -- he was ordered to wear a GPS monitoring unit around his ankle. NBC4's Toni Guinyard takes a look at the technology.

Spotlight: School Management for Fire Safety

Last month, Hanover Park High School in East Hanover, NJ experienced an electrical fire. According to the East Hanover- Florham Park Patch, the fire was caused by a faulty heater in the school guidance counselor’s office. The East Hanover Fire Department responded to the activated fire alarm to find that the fire was already put out by a school custodian with a fire extinguisher. Because of this swift action, there was no fire or smoke damage. To read more about the incident, click here.

Ensuring that both staff and students are prepared to act in the event of a fire can save lives. PSW’s Safety Task Management System features an entire library of compliance tasks dedicated to fire & life safety including the inspection of fire extinguishers, exit signs, emergency lights and required drills. The Safety Task Management System automatically alerts the appropriate administrator when safety tasks need to be completed so schools can stay in compliance with federal, state and district mandates. The automatic reminders guarantee that compliance tasks are addressed with little effort.

To find out more about how your district can use the Safety Task Management System for fire safety and other compliance tasks, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Safer Schools with Steve Waldmann: “PublicSchoolWORKS delivers everything.”

Managing a school district requires more than just getting students to class. The district is in charge of transporting children to and from school on district school buses. They eat meals prepared and served by district cafeteria staff. Schools are cleaned and maintained by a district janitorial and maintenance team. All of these non-educational services fall under the supervision of managers of School Business Affairs  like Steve Waldmann. As Manager of School Business Affairs at Kings Local School District in Kings Mills, Ohio, Waldmann is responsible for the operation and maintenance of 700,000 square feet of property.

“It can be very easy to have emergencies pop up in a district,” said Waldmann. “One of the headaches I have with Ancillary Services is recognizing, with the number of things there are to do, what should be prioritized so I do not miss anything. It can begin to interfere with some of those compliance tasks that I have to make sure get done, as well.”

With a vast range of responsibilities and tasks on his plate, Waldmann turned to PublicSchoolWORKS for a solution. Kings Local implemented the EmployeeSafe Suite to not only help track and manage ancillary staff tasks and training, but also staff accident reporting and other compliance tasks.

With the EmployeeSafe Suite, faculty and staff can report staff accidents and near-miss incidents. The system then auto-emails administration when a report is submitted, guaranteeing that the incident or claim gets addressed quickly and properly to reduce risk.   

If similar incidents keep occurring, Waldmann can use the EmployeeSafe Suite to look for trends. If Waldmann finds that accidents keep occurring at similar times of day or in the same locations, he quickly sees it and the system is used to implement and manage prevention initiatives whether training, or audits or other programs.

EmployeeSafe also keeps track of and manages the completion of federal, state and district safety tasks and staff training requirements. When a safety task needs to be completed or training courses need to be assigned to employees, the system automates the process so administrators are hands-off until notified to take action.

To learn more about how your district can use EmployeeSafe for facilities management and other safety tasks, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Safer Schools with Beverly Broestl: Eliminating the Knot in Your Stomach

When it comes to worrying about the safety of schools, administrators often fear potential lurking hazards.  To alleviate this fear and the knot in the stomach that comes with worrying about being in compliance,  district administrators nationwide are turning to PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite.

The online Hazard Reporting System and the Staff Accident Reporting System are online, automated systems for faculty and staff to report potential hazards and staff accidents as they occur. Once a report is submitted, the system automatically alerts the appropriate staff to take action and tracks the issue to completion. Districts are also using the EmployeeSafe Safety Task Management System to manage district, state and federally mandated safety tasks. The system automatically alerts key administrators when a safety task needs to be completed and tracks those individuals to sign-off on the completion of tasks.

The “set-it and forget-it” system ensures that administrators like Beverly Broestl,  director of HR at Montgomery County Educational Services in Dayton, Ohio , are running a safe school environment, without the worry of having to remember every task that needs to get done. “It eliminates the knot in my stomach,’ said Broestl. “It takes away the worry, day and night, that I’m forgetting something.”

To learn more about how your district can use EmployeeSafe for facility management, sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Customer Spotlight: Vandalia-Butler City Schools

Vandalia-Butler City Schools in Vandalia, OH, was tracking all of their student accidents using a standard paper and pen process. This task fell on former Business Manager Chuck Stewart, who was also responsible for evaluating this data to prevent similar accidents from reoccurring. As the business manager, Stewart had the responsibility of managing student accidents which previously required that he chase down faculty and staff in the six buildings in order to get vital information and initiate preventative measures. The process was time-consuming and inefficient.

To remedy the situation, Vandalia-Butler implemented PublicSchoolWORKS’ StudentWatch Suite for their student accident reporting. With the StudentWatch Suite, student accidents are dealt with immediately through the automated web-based system. When an incident occurs, a staff or faculty member goes online and files a student accident report, detailing the extent of the accident, as well as the student’s information and any witness details. Once the report is submitted, StudentWatch automatically notifies the designated site-level and/or district-level administrators prompting them with steps to take to manage the accident from beginning reporting to resolution. This guarantees that incidents are handled appropriately and timely.

 The StudentWatch Suite also allows administrators to easily pull accident reports for review and appropriate action. By using the accident reporting module, Stewart evaluated the nature of the incidents and where they occured in order to make the appropriate prevention plans to avert reoccurring accidents.

To find out more about how Vandalia Butler City Schools uses PublicSchoolWORKS for student safety, click here. To learn more about how your district can use the StudentWatch Suite, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Spotlight: Student Injuries

A recent article on an Austin-area news website reported that two elementary schools had issues in their school cafeterias when glass panels commonly referred to as “sneeze guards” shattered. In one instance a student was allegedly injured by glass shards from the breaking glass.

The school district, in a news release, stated that no students were harmed by the accident, but the student’s father said his son came home with lacerations. He also claimed that his son pulled a piece of glass out of his mouth while eating his lunch, and showed a cafeteria worker, but it was not stated whether the incident was reported. To read more about the cafeteria incident, click here.

In this situation, if the district had PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Accident Reporting System, the cafeteria worker could have filed  a comprehensive, online accident report recording exactly what happened, including which students were involved and the extent of their injuries (regardless of how minor they were), the time of the incident, as well as if there were any witnesses. The system would then immediately notify the designated site-level and/or district-level administrators prompting them with steps to take to ensure that the incident is handled properly mandates.

The Student Accident Reporting System ensures that all student accidents are handled correctly and promptly, allowing for quicker and more effective solutions to be enacted. Without the Student Accident Reporting System, there may be discrepancies about the nature of the incident or the students’ injuries, resulting in ineffective investigations or potential legal concerns.

To learn more about how your district can use the Student Accident Reporting System, email sales@publicschoolworks.com... 

When former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Martin Springer bailed out of jail -- accused of lewd conduct with a child -- he was ordered to wear a GPS monitoring unit around his ankle. NBC4's Toni Guinyard takes a look at the technology.

Customer Spotlight: Cleveland Independent School District

Cleveland Independent School District (ISD) in Cleveland, TX was experiencing some issues concerning student safety. In order to properly handle the situation and prevent incidents from reoccurring in the future, Cleveland ISD implemented PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP) and the EmployeeSafe Suite for the 2012-2013 school year.

The SBVPP provides students and parents with mechanisms to anonymously report incidents of bullying and student violence. Both the online and telephone reporting mechanisms automatically alert the designated administrators when a report is filed and prompts them as to the proper actions needed to track incidents through to resolution. The system also allows Cleveland ISD to assess which types of student safety issues are occurring in order to properly intervene and prevent the situation from occurring again. 

The district uses the EmployeeSafe Suite to provide their staff with online training in order to equip them with the skills to handle these bullying and student violence incidents. The Cleveland ISD staff was educated on key issues such as suicide prevention and depression in students. The system also automatically reminds staff members of training deadlines and alerts the designated administrator when staff members do not complete training.

Both the SBVPP and the EmployeeSafe Suite are helping solve the student safety issues Cleveland ISD was experiencing and is continuing to promote a culture of safety within the district.

To learn more about how Cleveland ISD used the SBVPP and EmployeeSafe Suites to improve student and staff safety, click here. To learn more about how your district can use these systems, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.

Student Accident and Injuries Awareness Month

Student safety is of the utmost importance to educators, parents and PublicSchoolWORKS. Promoting a culture of safety in schools not only provides a sense of security for students and staff, it also creates a more effective learning environment.

PublicSchoolWORKS offers numerous systems to address district concerns about student safety. The StudentWatch Suite includes online and telephone systems for students to report bullying and other safety concerns: a student accident management system that allows districts to report student accidents, track them to resolution and review trend data to better recognize and fix issues: and a behavior management system to address student discipline incidents.  

PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite also promotes the importance of student safety. EmployeeSafe features an online staff training system with an entire Student Safety Wellness & Social Responsibilities catalog that helps inform staff of the signs of various student safety concerns. This catalog includes courses such as Bullying Prevention, Child Abuse Prevention, Depression in Students and Self Injury and Suicide Prevention.

To learn more about how your district can improve student safety efforts, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.