• Convenient, flexible, easy-to-use

  • Online learning that fits
    your schedule
  • Learn wherever and whenever you want
  • Easy-to-use learning platform guides you through the course



• We've helped educators at more than 15,000 schools

  • "This is how I'm going to get my continuing education credits from now on."

    - Wendy J. Cope, French Teacher, Lancaster Catholic High School, Lancaster, PA

  • "This course lives up to its promise. It is real and easy to implement. It's made a big difference in my teaching!"

    - Frank Martin, Principal, The Stevens School

  • "I absolutely love the class I am taking. I am taking it to improve my leadership skills. It's been great!"

    - Connie Cullip, Special Education Supervisor, Rudyard, MI EUPISD




• • "The Coursework is convenient and interesting! I definitely recommend the program."

    - Jennifer Desloges, 7th Grade English Teacher Plymouth Elementary, Plymouth, NH

  • "I am through about 4 lectures and am loving the ease and simplicity of how it all works! Everything is so easy to navigate."

    - LuAnn Funk, 2nd Grade Teacher, Case Avenue Elementary

• • "I took this course with some reservation, but it proved to be very helpful. Some of the simple things that I learned made a huge impact on the amount of energy my students put into learning"

    
    

    "It was easy to do. I got to work at my own pace, explore all the websites and absorb the materials As a 28 year veteran I do believe you can teach old dogs new tricks."

    - Joseph Fusco, Physics Teacher Lodi High School, NJ

Course 1036

The Safer School: Planning for Speedy Responses to Crises

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Apply this towards your professional development requirements

Tuition: $575                

A crisis can strike any school at any moment, and it can come in many forms: violence, accidents, sickness and more.

If a crisis does strike your school, will everyone know their roles? Will the right people get the right information – quickly? How far can you legally go with student search and seizure? What threats does technology abuse pose to your school? Learn the best practices to crisis preparedness, prevention and reaction from the nation's foremost experts and educators with this new, online course.

What You'll Learn

Violence, accidents, disaster or crisis can strike any school at any moment. It's critical to have a proven preparedness plan in place that not only addresses the chaos, but effectively communicates important information outward. Does everyone know their roles? Cwill the right people got the right information at the right time? This module will show you:

• The keys to creating a plan that's focused on your school's needs
• Proven ways to assess, identify and defuse threatening situations
• How to best communicate with your faculty, staff, students and parents
• Important elements every plan should include - and those it shouldn't
• What to look for when designing a plan that fits your school
• How and when to work with federal and local officials
• Specific dos and don'ts for a practical, effective disaster plan

Highlights

Critical Elements of an Effective Disaster Plan

• What you should do - IMMEDIATELY - when told of a dangerous situation
• How best to anticipate and prevent incidents from occurring in your school
• The importance of using documentation to track "precursor" incidents
• How to get buy-in for a school-wide safety/security program

What's Working to Prevent School Violence

• Training students, parents, faculty and staff in school safety
• How can you anticipate unique disasters that are hard to predict?
• Who should be involved in the planning process and how much "say" should they have?

Keys for Creating the Safest School Environment

• Training students, parents, faculty and staff in school safety
• How can you anticipate unique disasters that are hard to predict?
• Who should be involved in the planning process and how much "say" should they have?

What You'll Learn

Technology misconduct and abuse, including cyberbullying and cell phones in the classroom, are widespread across the country, starting with students in elementary school. Understanding what students are doing, where they're doing it, how they're doing it and the legal aspects of their conduct is critical to preventing this growing problem.

• Cyberbullying: What you need to know
• Legally disciplining technology misconduct: What's working and what's not; What's legal and what's not
• Best practices to proactively combat cyberbullying, cell phones in the classroom, cheating and other forms of misconduct
• How to communicate with parents about dangerous online activities

Highlights

The Realities of Cyberbullying and What You Can and Can’t do

• How far can you go in regulating student speech online?
• Abuses of social networking sites and what’s really going on
• Suggestions for protecting yourself from potential liability
• Inappropriate and offensive student-created Internet Web sites

Legal Update on Technology Abuse and Discipline

• Fourth Amendment issues & due process requirements you need to know
• What are the laws against cyberbullying and other technology abuses?
• How are the courts weighing in on technology abuse cases?

Other Internet Issues

• The statistics and trends: How does the use and abuse of technology at your school compare?
• How online predators are threatening your students now
• How does cyberpornography, privacy and the liability of ISPs impact your school?
• Disguised plagiarism and inventive cheating: What students are doing now
• What other forms of abuse and harassment are rampant today?

What You'll Learn

4th amendment rights in schools and student search and seizure continues to be difficult and confusing for educators. Issues regarding police involvement, strip searches, pat downs, back packs, and technology-based searches are tricky and often get schools, administrators and teachers in trouble. This module will give you a complete understanding of the most-current legal rulings to help you stay in compliance and out of court during this. In this module you're learn:

• 4 ways to determine if Search and Seizure is appropriate
• How to abide by constitutional constraints and avoid costly litigation
• How to navigate the "grey areas" not covered in case law
• The most common mistakes schools are making - and how to avoid them
• Reasonable cause, equal protection, and other key definitions & concepts

Highlights

Search and Seizure in Schools: What's Legal and What's Not

• If and when students can consent to waive their rights
• Where students have a reasonable expectation of privacy
• How the legal interaction between schools & law enforcement operates

Clarifying 4th Amendment Rights in Schools

• Managing & investigating student behavior under the 4th amendment
• Reasonableness standard: Determining lawful & unlawful seizure
• Administrative searches: Dos and don'ts to ensure compliance

Legal Update: New Cases that Are Impacting Schools

• Pat down searches of students - what's legal?
• Metal detector and other technology-based searches
• Backpack, canine, strip searches & more: it's all addressed in this module

The Virtual Teachers Lounge™

Check in with your peers and get answers to your questions – any time, 24/7. Taking this course will give you exclusive access to the thoughts, insights and experience of other educators and K-12 experts discussing your topics and giving you solutions and ideas for whatever is on your mind. In the Teachers' lounge, you can:

• Learn new, working strategies and solutions from other educators – live!
• Get answers to your toughest questions from top K-12 experts
• Discuss course topics with your peers and benefit from their experiences
• Share your success stories and best practices to benefit other teachers and administrators
• Get new perspectives, fresh ideas and guidance – whenever you need it.
• You can log whenever is most convenient for you, 24/7

All you have to do is sign up for this course, and you're in!

Connect with, hear from and get help from you peers.

Materials & Assessment

Lectures	Your lectures, delivered by one of the nation's leading, recognized experts on this topic, are presented in multiple parts to make listening and tracking your progress easier. You can listen to each as often as you like by playing it on your computer, downloading it to your iPod or other MP3 player, even burning it to CD. Listen wherever it is most convenient for you: at home, in your car; at the park; and whenever you like: before or after work, at night or on weekends. Many educators can complete a module in only a week.
Text Resources	Virtual text resources are downloadable and expand on the material covered in your lectures. They may include articles, web links to related materials and web sites, definitions of important terms and concepts, and a bibliography. All materials can be viewed on your computer or downloaded and printed.
Assessment	To receive your Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Attendance and earn Professional Development/Continuing Education units/credits/hours, you will need to complete all assessments and submit all final projects.
Virtual Teachers Lounge	To gain Professional Development credits or hours for any of these three modules, you must participate in the Virtual teachers Lounge discussion for that module. If you are not seeking credits or hours, participation in the Lounge is not mandatory, but you are still welcome to connect with and share your thoughts, questions, insights and experience with your peers at any time.