Ahh, the joys of summer break. Nothing is sweeter to administrators’ ears than the silence of the school building in summer. Before you turn on your autoresponder, blend up a pitcher of pina coladas and head to the beach for the summer, now is an excellent time to review mandatory and recommended staff trainings and place them on the district’s calendar for when your staff returns this fall.
MANDATORY TRAININGS
Title IX. As of August 14, 2020, the members of your Title IX Team (i.e., Title IX Coordinator, Investigator, Decision-Maker, Appellate Decision-Maker, and Informal Resolution Facilitator) must all receive specific Title IX training. If that hasn’t been completed—or if you have a new member to your Title IX Team who has not received that training—that training must occur as soon as possible. As you have most likely heard us say before, we strongly recommend that all district employees and board members also receive basic Title IX training, with an emphasis on the legal definitions of sexual harassment and how to report it to the appropriate people. We anticipate the new federal regulations will require ALL staff receive training. While you are enjoying your well-deserved summer break, the KSB attorneys will monitor the Title IX situation and will let everyone know what the final regulations require when they are published.
Child Find Obligations/Section 504/MTSS/PBIS. The IDEA and South Dakota Administrative Rules require training for “appropriate” staff to be able to carry out the district’s “child find” obligations under state and federal law. These obligations also apply to Section 504. Any presentation about MTSS and PBIS should also remind staff of ongoing child find obligations regardless of the tiered intervention system your district uses.
Suicide Awareness and Prevention. All teachers, administrators, and other educational professions must receive one hour of suicide awareness and prevention training in order to be issued an initial certificate and a renewal certificate as required by SDCL 13-42-71.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TRAININGS
Sex Harassment and Discrimination. Staff should, at a minimum, know where to locate your policy and handbook provisions on antidiscrimination based on sex. This includes your sex harassment policy, complaint procedure, and grievance procedure (for certified staff). They should also understand who your Title IX coordinator is and how that person can be contacted. That will be in your nondiscrimination notices, but reviewing it with staff is a good idea. Ideally, you would review prohibited conduct.
Section 504 and ADA. Staff have a right to be accommodated if they have a disability. The school must provide reasonable accommodations to allow the employee to perform the essential functions of their positions. You should, at a minimum, cover your process for staff requesting accommodations, reporting workplace injuries, and your complaint and grievance procedures in the context of a staff member with a disability.
Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting. South Dakota statute 26-8A-3 requires teachers and school counselors to report child abuse when the employee “who has reasonable cause to suspect that a child under the age of eighteen has been abused or neglected.” You should train on this obligation and on your district’s mandatory reporting policy and procedures.
Restraint and Seclusion. Under SDCL 13-32-20, each district must have a restraint and seclusion policy. We recommend reviewing it and your practices with your staff.
Professionalism and SD Administrative Rule Chapter 24:08:03. You should review your board’s expectations for professionalism by way of policies such as appropriate relationships, technology use, and others. This should include a review of certified staff conduct rules laid out in South Dakota Administrative Rules Code of Professional Ethics. Ideally staff will certify that they have read Chapter 24:08:03 each year.
STUDENT ASSEMBLIES
Digital Citizenship Assembly (AKA “Digcit”). The calendars are already filling up for the fall. We recommend reaching out to book your student digcit assemblies now. As a quick overview, Digcit is an hour-long assembly focused on educating students about sexting, inappropriate pictures, cyberbullying and the related consequences, both school based and criminal. All assemblies are sprinkled with the usual KSB sass and humor. Typically, the sessions are separated into middle school or junior high and high school.
UPCOMING SUMMER SPECIAL EDUCATION TRAINING
If you just can’t get enough special education training, there is an excellent national conference close to home this summer. The Midwest Educational Leadership Conference will be held June 19-21 in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado. The speakers include KSB School Law’s own Karen Haase. If you would like more information or to sign up, just click here.
If you have any questions about trainings or would like to schedule the KSB crew to conduct a staff in-service or Digcit, please feel free to contact Karen, Steve, Bobby, Coady, Jordan, Tyler or Sara at (402) 804-8000, or send everyone an email at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com.