EMPLOYEESAFE

Spotlight on Staff Safety

PublicSchoolWORKS’ (PSW) Staff Training is the one and only online training solution for public school districts that is fully compliant with all requirements of OSHA and other local, state and federal agencies. Included is the management system, course content and support services necessary to meet the unique training needs of public schools. This training solution addresses the challenges faced by school administrators to ensure that all current and new staff receive training appropriate to their occupations, sites and responsibilities. It offers complete, automated communication, tracking, reporting and recordkeeping of staff training.

PSW offers 220+ training courses, covering all the health, safety and behavioral topics needed by a public school system for training staff and students. In addition, PSW offers a custom course development system that makes it easy for crisis plans, board policies and other district-specific information to be quickly distributed and managed within the system.

STUDENTWATCH

Spotlight on Student Safety

Working with students in science labs can present safety issues and anxiety. Teachers are hopeful that all students and staff will take their safety and the safety of others seriously when conducting experiments and tests. A recent lab-related tragedy brings this to light - One student at Yale University in New Haven, CT who was known for taking proper safety precautions, was recently killed in a tragic accident when her long hair got caught in lab equipment. The student, Michele Dufault, who was majoring in astronomy and physics, was working alone after hours on her senior thesis when she was killed.

According to the New York Times, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the incident and Yale University is reviewing their “safety policies and practices of laboratories, machine shops and other facilities with power equipment.” As a cautious student, Dufault had passed the University’s introductory to shop course, allowing her access to the lab, was enrolled in an advanced course on machine shop protocols and co-authored a 60-page document of safeguards for the NASA reduced-gravity experiment she assisted with last summer. Even with all of this knowledge, tragic accidents can still happen. Other schools can learn from this event and require students using potentially dangerous equipment to work in pairs, or follow other safety precautions.

Another tool schools can use to help prevent student accidents is PSW’s Student Accident Reporting & Management System. This system automates the management, notification, tracking and documentation of required accident management initiatives to reduce accidents and claims, while improving student play areas and building safety. Schools can use the system to track accident trends and provide retraining or change rules to make areas safer for students.

YOUTH VIOLENCE

When Your Child is the Bully

Protecting a child from bullies can be a parent’s nightmare. Knowing a child is going to a school where he or she is verbally or physically abused is hard to think about, but what happens when your child is the school-yard bully? According to WKTV.com, the one red flag with bullies is that they are likely suffering themselves and are often being bullied by others. If your child's accused of being the bully, it is more important to address the situation than to focus on who is to blame. Parents should work with their children to help them understand what bullying is and how it feels to be on the receiving end of bullying in order to develop a sense of what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes.

PublicSchoolWORKS’ Student Bullying Reporting System provides 24/7 online and telephone systems for students and parents to report bullying incidents, with built-in communication tools that immediately notify school administrators. Has your child been caught bullying at school? How did you address the issue? Share your answers to these questions by joining the discussion on Facebook

SAFETY THOUGHT

School Safety Policies

According to Philly.com. a federal grand jury has indicted two former top charter school officials, Hugh C. Clark and Ina M. Walker, in Northwest Philadelphia on charges of stealing $522,000. Clark, the president of the charter’s board and Walker, the charter school’s chief executive officer, allegedly used the money slated for New Media Charter School to pay expenses at another small private school they controlled called Lotus Academy. They also used the money to fund personal businesses, including the Black Olive health-food store and restaurant in Mount Airy. Lastly, they used some of the money for personal expenses, including meals and credit-card bills. The Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) forced the pair to step down and cut all ties to the charter school. The SRC also required all members of the charter board to step down.