Top 10 Back-to-School Training FAQs: Expert Safety Advisor Advice

Safety and compliance training can feel overwhelming when you’re left to handle it on your own, but our PublicSchoolWORKS Safety Advisors make it easy. Districts and training managers rely on their dedicated Safety Advisor to manage their training and answer their questions. We recently asked our team of Safety Advisors to share the top 10 most frequently asked questions they receive, and how PublicSchoolWORKS positions districts for optimal compliance and a successful school year.

1. How much training does my district need?

It depends! Each state has different training requirements. Our in-house research team stays on top of the latest legislative changes and requirements for each state, and your Safety Advisor reviews these requirements with you each year during your annual review. We’ll discuss requirements, as well as best practices, and work together to decide what best fits your district’s needs.

We also offer Custom Course Builder to accommodate your district specific documents. This can include signoffs on crisis response plans, AED locations, staff handbooks, district policies, and more.

2. When should training begin?

You get to decide what training schedule will work best for your district and we can customize it however you need. Some districts have staff that prefer to get a head start on their training during the summer, but other districts may prefer to wait closer to the beginning of the school year. If there is a back-to-school professional development or in-service day, districts will often align their training start date for staff to utilize that time for their training courses. On the training start date you decide upon, our system will notify staff via an automated email that contains login information and a link to their safety portal.

3. How many training cycles should we have?

This is also your decision and each district has their own preference. Some best practices that we recommend:

• One training cycle that starts at the beginning of the school year, but courses can have different due dates throughout the year based on course requirements, occupation needs, or professional development days. This allows staff to pace themselves based on their schedule and availability.
• Two training cycles: one in the fall and another in the spring
• Three smaller and shorter training cycles that align with professional development days for staff to focus on their assigned training courses

Your training cycles are fully customizable, can accommodate your 180 day staff’s training needs, and can be modified as needed at any time. If you try something and it’s not what works best for your district, we can always adjust it for the next training cycle or the next school year.

4. When do you need our staff data file finalized?

Ideally, before your training cycle begins. However, our system can securely connect to your HR database and update staff information in our system as it is updated in your district’s system.

5. What happens when we add new hires or staff switch roles within the school year?

When an employee is added to your district’s training within PublicSchoolWORKS, the system will note their site, department, and occupation(s) to automatically assign their required training and they will receive an automated email notification with login information. In order to get new hires compliant as quickly as possible, you can also customize the new hire training cycle to allow 30-90 days until their training is due.

If an employee switches roles within a school year, the system handles it much like a new hire. Once their site, department, and occupation information is updated within PublicSchoolWORKS, the system will automatically identify any new training they need and send them an email notification alerting them to their training. In addition, our system allows multiple occupations for each employee. For instance, if you have a teacher who also becomes a coach, they will receive training for both.

6. Is employee data uploaded manually, or are there options for data automation?

We have options for both. We can manually upload employee data into our system. We also have a Data Integration Team who can work with your district’s IT department to set up an automated employee data file through a SFTP server. We can also work with them to setup single sign on authentication.

7. What if staff forget to take their training?

If our automated email reminders to staff throughout the training cycle aren’t enough and you have employees who haven’t met the deadline, they will receive two more reminder emails after the due date to encourage them to complete their training. They will also be included in training reports sent to site administrators of your choosing. In addition to our automated emails to past-due staff, we encourage the district to reach out as well for best completion rates. The training will remain in the user’s portal until it is completed.

8. How will I know where our district stands with training completion?

A status graph will be available whenever you log into your training page indicating this year’s training progress. You will also be able to view last year’s status graph for comparison.

However, incomplete training reports are sent out to select administrators one day after a training cycle ends and training was due, again one week after training was due, and a final report will be sent two weeks after training was due.

9. How easy is it to access training records should we need them?

We can pull training records anytime you need them. Once you’ve contacted your Safety Advisor for assistance, we can pull your records in a matter of minutes!

10. If we need to make training changes or staff have issues logging in, who do we contact?

PublicSchoolWORKS has award-winning customer service for whatever your need may be. If your staff have an issue logging into their training or a course isn’t loading properly on their computer, they can contact our toll-free hotline and speak to a representative 24/7/365.

If a training manager or administrator has questions about training setup, new legislation, or any other concern, they have direct contact to their dedicated safety advisor who will personally handle their request as quickly as possible.

Our Safety Advisors pride themselves on serving as an extension of your district and the relationships they build with administrators. At PublicSchoolWORKS, we do the research, we manage the system, and we make the updates.  Our automated system creates a set-it-and-forget-it process, allowing you to spend your time in more meaningful ways.