SUBLETTE, Kan. – PublicSchoolWORKS (PSW) and Southwest Plains Regional Service Center (SWPRSC) recently announced their partnership to help Kansas school districts meet state and federal safety training mandates even with limited staff or budgets.

PublicSchoolWORKS has created a program consisting of 18 different online training courses to specifically address key staff training requirements driven by federal or state mandates, best practices in safety and areas of high liability exposure.

These courses run the gamut from legislation-mandated courses such as Bloodborne Pathogens training and Jason Flatt Act-mandated suicide prevention training courses as well as popular but non-mandated courses such as a Slips, Trips and Falls Prevention training and Ladder Safety training.

The SWPRSC serves 81 districts across Kansas, many of which are extremely rural and experience staff shortages. School districts with less than 100 employees can qualify for the program and receive a discounted rate through PublicSchoolWORKS partnership with SWPRSC. If a district meets this requirement – they can register by contacting Mike Ronen, the CFO of Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, who will in turn direct them to PublicSchoolWORKS for implementation.

“There is great value being provided to help our small districts,” said Ronen. “They can now provide staff with critical training without taking time away from their regular duties and can easily ensure everyone completes training. It is taking a load off of districts because it is managed for them. All they have to do is register for the program, get it set up with PublicSchoolWORKS, and start completing courses. It’s that easy.”

Once the district is enrolled, the PublicSchoolWORKS Staff Training System auto-emails employees to take their training courses, which they can conveniently access at all times and locations.

Additionally, if districts do not finish their training by the deadline, employees are notified with automated reminders to complete their training and designated administrators receive a report of employees who have not completed training so they can follow up directly. All training transcripts are saved online in the PublicSchoolWORKS system, which makes it easy to reference all training.

“We are proud to collaborate with the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center to increase access to quality safety training for small Kansas districts that before might have felt it was cost prohibitive,” said Tom Strasburger, vice president of strategic alliances at PublicSchoolWORKS. “Our vision is to enhance school safety by developing innovative programs that completely address specific safety needs or requirements, and we’re excited to see SWPRSC help its districts on the path toward making these goals a reality.”

Contributions to this report include information from PublicSchoolWORKS.

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The courses, which range from the relatively vague titled “Leadership and Influence” to the comparatively ominous (and unfortunately necessary) “Preparing for Mass Casualty Incidents: A Guide for Schools, Higher Education and Houses of Worship,” are intended for building and district-level administrators, and were created by FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI).

The courses can be obtained via the EMI website or through vendors such as  PublicSchoolWORKS, which allows free access to its customers. PublicSchoolWORKS safety compliance management solutions have assisted schools in meeting their compliance requirements for the past 17 years.

“We hand-picked these nine FEMA courses because they directly address the skills we know administrators will need in the event of an emergency situation,” said Tom Strasburger, vice president, Strategic Alliances, PublicSchoolWORKS, in a statement. “We added them to our catalog to make it more convenient and easier to track completion for our customers.”

PublicSchoolWORKS provides an assessment to ensure administrators can apply the safety concepts to real-life situations. Moreover, the system is automated such that, once a trainee is assigned a course, the system automatically emails them to access and complete the training online at their convenience. The system also has baked in user retention and sends reminder emails at certain intervals to keep those who have not yet completed their training engaged and accountable. Automating the system makes administering the training more manageable for cash-strapped districts.

Enrollment in EMI courses is generally limited to U.S. residents; however, each year a limited number of international participants are accommodated. To participate in an EMI course via the EMI website, applicants must meet the selection criteria and prerequisites specified for each specific course. Participants may not take the same course more than once.

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For five years, PHM used PublicSchoolWORKS’ online Staff Training System to ensure employees completed federally mandated safety training courses covering topics such as blood-borne pathogen safety, and additional courses such as slips, trips and falls, proper power tool usage, lifting techniques and more. The online training aimed to spread awareness about common safety concerns and put a focus on accident prevention district-wide. The company notes that this has helped reduce district risks and injuries, which allowed the district to lower its risk management retention funds by nearly $100,000 at one point.

“I’m most excited about the online staff accident reporting,” said Mike Seger, director of safety and student services at PHM, in a statement. “The ability to easily identify what types of accidents are most common across the district will help us strategically deploy the online training courses our employees need to reduce injuries.”

PHM staff members now complete accident reports online in the Staff Accident Management System. Once submitted, the system automatically notifies designated administrators to investigate and address the hazard that caused the injury, and it also auto-alerts key parties such as the central office staff and insurance providers. All reports are housed in the system’s safety portal, which helps the district better identify safety trends.

Similarly, staff can report safety hazards or “near-misses” online so the maintenance department can fix any unsafe building or grounds conditions before they cause injury. The system has also helped spread awareness among staff members about how to safely handle chemicals and how to properly address a chemical spill in order to reduce injury and damage to school property.

“PublicSchoolWORKS assists our risk management process and helps promote a culture of safety across the district,” said Seger. “This helps minimize the frequency and severity of losses. The money we would be spending on accidents and premiums can now go back into the general fund and support student instruction.”

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