In Midst of Budget Cuts, Oregon Districts Find Innovative Ways to Train Staff - SafeSchools' Award-Winning System to Deliver Essential Staff Training, Including HB 2062-Specific Courses, in 2010-2011

    CINCINNATI, OH, June 30, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- As educators in Oregon deal with recent budget cuts, a number of the state's leading districts, including Portland, Medford, Gresham-Barlow, Springfield, Greater Albany, Corvallis and Coos Bay are finding innovative ways to do more with less. Along with several Education Service Districts, administrators at each of these districts recently selected SafeSchools as their new staff training and compliance system of choice.

SafeSchools is a cost-effective online system that fully complements a district's existing safety and training plan. Using SafeSchools, a district has 24/7 access to a comprehensive library of more than 125 expertly written, 100% school-focused online courses covering a wide variety of safety topics including transportation safety, hazardous chemical management, bloodborne pathogens, child abuse, bullying, sexual conduct, special education and many more. This spring, SafeSchools developed a suite of custom Oregon-specific courses that fully support House Bill 2062 and cover the important topics of sexual conduct and child abuse. These courses offer both staff versions and parent versions so that districts can provide training to the home as well.

Each SafeSchools course is written by one of the nation's leading authorities on school safety and compliance, including Dr. Randy Sprick, an Oregon-based national expert on positive behavior and discipline; and Dr. Robert Shoop, a nationally recognized forensic expert in the area of school law, with a focus on sexual harassment, abuse prevention and risk management. SafeSchools' credentialed authors deliver courses that are immediately applicable in a K-12 environment, providing an instant return on investment.

According to Brett Yancey, Director of Business Operations in Springfield Public Schools, his district selected SafeSchools because "the program offers school-focused courses for every department, including transportation, special education, human resources, food service, and of course, teachers. SafeSchools gives us the option to deploy the courses online or with an instructor, so we can decide the delivery method that works best for our staff."

SafeSchools training is administered and completed through one convenient online system, saving a district valuable time and money. Each course completion is automatically tracked by the compliance management system and a variety of valuable real-time reports are available on-demand. Portland Public Schools' Risk Manager, Benson Meyers, emphasizes: "being able to assign and record SafeSchools courses in relationship with our district procedures helps us better document compliance and foster a safer work environment." Using SafeSchools, districts can comply with important state regulations and develop a sound risk management culture to help mitigate their exposure and losses.

One obstacle that often plagues large and small districts alike when it comes to online staff training is the system's ease of use. As Medford Public Schools can attest, the SafeSchools system is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. In April 2010, Medford administrators successfully launched the SafeSchools system district-wide and staff completed over 700 courses in less than 24 hours! In just over a month, Medford is already near 100% compliance, a very impressive accomplishment.

"Our staff's feedback has been very favorable and we will be using SafeSchools extensively next year," said Todd Bloomquist, Director of Human Resources for Medford Schools.

"Providing staff with excellent, vetted training content is vital to a district's overall success. Even in the midst of budget cuts, these districts continue to find creative ways to make staff development and safety a priority. They should be applauded," says Brian Taylor, CEO of Scenario Learning, the publisher of SafeSchools.

SafeSchools is the leading web-based safety training system specifically designed for the education market. Recently recognized with a 2010 BESSIE award for educational excellence, SafeSchools courses are 100% school-focused, and written by the country's foremost school safety experts. The program is currently used in over 2,200 school districts nationwide and was developed by Scenario Learning in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, please visit http://www.safeschools.com.

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