Apply this towards your professional development requirements
Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete
You undoubtedly have countless measures in place to protect the rights and interests of your students, but what about your faculty and staff? What policies should you have to ensure everyone’s work environment is safe, free from harassment and open to honest communication. And what are the best (and legal) ways to investigate and respond to violations of these policies?
This convenient, online course is delivered by the nation’s foremost experts and educators and lets you conveniently earn Professional Development credits, hours or certificates of completion whenever and where ever you like. It combines the following three learning modules, to give you practical takeaways you can put in place immediately at your school:
(1002) Sexual Harassment in Schools: Preventing, Responding and Limiting Liability
(1006) Getting Faculty and Staff to Speak Up: Honest Answers to Difficult Questions
(1007) Conducting Workplace Investigations: Balancing Privacy and the Need for Information
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Module 1 (1002)
Sexual Harassment in Schools: Preventing, Responding and Limiting Liability
What You'll Learn
Incidents of sexual harassment in schools are increasing at an alarming rate. When it happens, teachers and administrators alike must know the right actions to take to protect the victim's rights and privacy, protect the school from legal liability, and maintain an environment where students can learn and teachers and staff can work. In this module you'll learn:
The legal implications of sexual harassment all educators must know
Guidelines to proactively combat harassment in schools
How to spot subtle signs that harassment is happening or could be starting
What to do to minimize the legal liability of your school districts
Highlights
An Overview of Sexual Harassment
What really constitutes sexual harassment?
Teacher or Student? Victim or harasser? The best ways to handle every scenario
The most common forms of sexual harassment in schools: What the statistics show
Is it sexual harassment or sexual assault? The eyes of the law may surprise you
How do courts define severe, pervasive and deliberately indifferent?
Court Cases Legal Update - Including U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
Title IX and potential liability for school districts
Title VII third-party retaliation: the key points you need to know
Which grey areas and snap decisions can come back to haunt you?
The U.S. Supreme Court weighs in: make sure your policy reflects this
What Schools Can and Cannot Do
How much protection does the law give your students and school employees?
FERPA restrictions: What you can and cannot share with third parties
How you can turn court decisions into real policies that protect your school
Preventing retaliation: Steps you must take before you begin an investigation
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Module 2 (1006)
Getting Faculty and Staff to Speak Up: Honest Answers to Difficult Questions
What You'll Learn
Getting your faculty or staff to give you honest, straight-forward communication is difficult. Rather than communicate upward, most people are likely to avoid the truth for fear of retaliation or of hurting someone's feelings. But, not getting this honest feedback can lead to bad decision making, escalating problems, and low morale. This module will give you clear practical ways to turn your district into one where clear open communication is the norm. You'll learn:
The right ways to welcome the truth and get people to speak their minds
The 6 Laws of Absolute Honesty and how to use them effectively
The lost art of confronting problems head on - to get the info you need
The keys to getting complainers to stop whining and contribute something positive
Highlights
Eliminate the Fear of Tough, Productive Conversations
Get your staff to speak the truth - without fear of retribution
What are the specific words and phrases you should and shouldn't use?
What does your faculty and staff expect of you in these open discussions?
How to Build a Platform of Ethics and Stick to it
What do top leaders do to encourage a continued commitment to honesty?
How do you create an infrastructure to keep promote ethics and integrity?
The common mistakes that stall the change process and how to avoid them
Strategies to Foster a Culture of Honesty
Helping everyone overcome the 8 great fears of telling the truth
What is your role in the implementation?
How to best tackle future problems to get the results you want
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Module 3 (1007)
Conducting Workplace Investigations: Balancing Privacy and the Need for Information
What You'll Learn
When an employee violates a workplace rule, you are placed "on notice," and how you respond will determine your legal liability. How do you ensure your investigation solves the problem without creating new ones? This module will help you navigate these tricky situations by showing you:
The most common investigation mistakes - and how to avoid them
Step-by step guidance for any investigation scenario
The specific questions you should always ask - and those you shouldn't
Documentation dos and don'ts: to keep your school protected
Highlights
Employee Investigations: What You Need to Know Before You Begin
Procedures you need in place to handle faculty and staff complaints
The 3 critical steps you should take as soon as you receive a complaint
What you should be documenting - from initial complaint to wrap-up
Investigation Traps and Pitfalls: How to Avoid Them
Specific tips for interviewing the victim, the accused and witnesses
What you can do now to avoid future retaliation claims
How to balance the need for employee privacy with your need for information
How to Minimize Your Legal Liability
Who should be in the loop and when should they be told?
The wrap-up: How to follow-up with the victim and the accused
How can you bulletproof your documentation to keep your school out of trouble?
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!
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.
Register Now
The Safer School: Managing Faculty in Complex Times
Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete