Teen Beaten at School Remains in Coma

The mother of Josie Lou Ratley said her daughter can open her eyes and move her limbs but is still in a drug-induced coma.

Ratley has been in the coma since March 17, when police say Deerfield Beach High School student Wayne Treacy rode his bicycle over to Deerfield Beach Middle and attacked Ratley in the bus-loading area.

Since then, Ratley’s story has attracted national attention and an outpouring of support — and has unleashed worries about safety at schools.

In response to concerns, PublicSchoolWORKS has launched a comprehensive online bullying and violence prevention program for school district staff and students. The program aims to help schools ensure that staff and students are properly trained on how to prevent and report incidents of bullying and violence.

The program includes online training for staff and students on bullying prevention, violence prevention and a 24/7 online and telephone system for reporting incidents of bullying or violence.

To learn more about PSW's online bullying and violence prevention program, please contact sales@publicschoolworks.com or call 513.631.6111.

Source: The Miami Herald

Minneapolis School District Remains on Lockdown After Threats

The Minneapolis School District locked down all 60 of its buildings today after discovering someone threatened to shoot up a Minneapolis school and then end their own life.

The threat was found on two social networking sites, including Facebook, on Wednesday morning. It said the shooting would happen around 9:30 a.m.

Minneapolis schools were placed on "code yellow" status all day Wednesday, which means they were locked down but still observing normal student routines.

As a precautionary measure, the schools will stay on lockdown all day today. That means students will stay indoors and the school buildings' exterior doors will remain locked.

Police say the Web threat that led to a lockdown of all Minneapolis public schools on Wednesday could have come from Australia.

The suspect who allegedly made the threat hasn't been in the United States in seven years, so police believe this is a prank but are continuing to look into it.

St. Paul Public Schools are not in lock down. However, some schools have tightened security as a precaution.

You can ensure that your staff is trained on effective violence prevention strategies, as well as your district’s lockdown procedures, with the EmployeeSafe Suite. Contact PublicSchoolWORKS at sales@publicschoolworks.com for more information about this program.

Story taken from www.wcco.com.

PublicSchoolWORKS to host session on student behavior management

PublicSchoolWORKS will be holding a session for current customers to discuss student discipline and behavior management. The agenda for the session is as follows:

• Sharing best practices in student discipline and behavior management.

• Getting the most out of the PublicSchoolWORKS Student Behavior Management System with the least amount of effort.

• Using referrals, documentation reports, and positive behavior awards.

• Things we’re adding to the system.

• Discussion of customer behavior management successes, data analysis, and staff feedback.

Schedule/Location

Date: March 5, 2010

Time: 8:30 AM Registration

9:00 AM Start

12:00 PM Lunch (provided by PublicSchoolWORKS)

2:00 PM Finish

Location: OSBA Offices

Board / Conference Room

8050 N. High St.

Columbus, OH 43235

To RSVP, please contact Carrie via email at cmockler@publicschoolworks.com.

Safety Automation webinar scheduled for January 20

Attend the PublicSchoolWORKS’ Safety Automation webinar if you:
-Have a desire to transform your workload from paper piles to digital files
-Need direction on how to better organize accident and incident reports

The free webinar is being held on Wednesday, January 20th @ 8:00 AM PST/9:00 AM MST/10:00 AM CST/11:00 AM EST.

During the webinar, PublicSchoolWORKS’ customer John Folkman, Director of Business Services for Mayfield City Schools in Ohio (MCSD), will discuss his experience with a web-based tool that simplifies time-consuming tasks and manages his safety programs. Specifically, this tool allows MCSD to automatically communicate information about accidents on specific campuses to the appropriate authorities, schedule drills and maintenance activities such as recharging fire extinguishers, manage and deliver online safety courses to its staff, and standardize district-wide activities such as the reporting of and follow up on accidents and workers’ compensation claims.

To register for this 30-minute webinar, please contact Britta Bowles via email at bbowles@publicschoolworks.com.

Feedback from PSW's annual customer conference

This month, PublicSchoolWORKS hosted the second of two annual customer conferences. These conferences give customers a chance to learn more about PublicSchoolWORKS' many programs, ask questions and offer suggestions.

PSW Founder, Steve Temming, and Vice President, Tom Strasburger, were at the conference to discuss a variety of topics including:

• New features and tools on PSW's online system
• New and upcoming regulations schools need to be aware of
• PSW's response to the changes in regulations
• New and in-development training courses
• Status of the DASL integration

Steve and Tom received a lot of positive feedback and suggestions from those customers who attended the conference.

Free webinar: Online Safety Training for Oregon Schools

PublicSchoolWORKS will be hosting a free webinar on January 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM (PST) for Oregon school district administrators interested in learning more about PSW's online staff safety training.

Guest speaker Scott Cummins, Application Specialist for Northwest Regional Education Service District, will speak about his experience using PSW's online safety training management system and how it has helped his ESD and member districts meet mandatory training requirements.

To attend this webinar, please send an email to Britta Bowles at bbowles@publicschoolworks.com.

Flu prevention strategies for schools

Since the start of the 2009-10 school year, PublicSchoolWORKS has received a lot of interest in our online flu prevention courses. Administrators have been looking for effective ways to make staff and students aware of flu prevention strategies.

To help school district administrators get the information they needed on flu prevention, we began hosting free Flu Prevention Tips & Strategies webinars. The webinars were well attended and many administrators were able to share their district's strategies with other district administrators in attendance.

If you would like to attend one of PSW's flu prevention webinars, please click here to email me for the date and time of the next scheduled webinar.

In the meantime, here are some great tips from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on flu prevention for schools:

• Stay home when sick. You should stay home for 24 hours after your fever has passed.
• Separate students and staff who have a flu like illness. They should be sent to a room separate from the general population until they can be sent home.
• Practice hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette. Wash hands frequently with soap and water. Cover noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Dispose of the used tissue in a waste bin.
• Routine clean. Staff should routinely clean areas that staff and students touch often with the cleaners they typically use.
• Early treatment of high-risk students and staff. People at high risk for influenza complications who become ill with influenza-like illness should speak with their health care provider as soon as possible. Early treatment with antiviral medications is very important for people at high risk because it can prevent hospitalizations and deaths. People at high risk include those who are pregnant, have asthma or diabetes, have compromised immune systems or have neuro-muscular diseases.