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.