INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana schools want relief from a mountain of required staff training.
Over the years, legislators have ordered all school employees to be trained in 21 different topics, including C-P-R, suicide, diabetes, epilepsy, homelessness, gang awareness, and human trafficking. Educators and legislators agree they’re all important, but they’re also chewing up time and money. Legislators agreed this year to study whether the training list can be trimmed down.
Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents executive director J-T Coopman says legislators have piled on new trainings without stopping to think about the bigger picture. He suggests some trainings could be combined or given less often, perhaps when teachers’ licenses come up for renewal. And the Indiana School Boards Association’s Lisa Tanselle suggests not everyone needs every training. For instance, she says school nurses could decide who needs health training, instead of a blanket order for everyone to do it.
