A View from the IU

For those employees who were employed five years ago when the Acct 126-2012 law took effect It is time to begin renewing their 3 hour training. Remember the three hours of training you did on recognizing child abuse? 

You can wait to the end of the next five year period but I would not recommend it.  The number one reason to get it done now is that since Act 126 was launched in 2012 there has been additional mandatory training that has been handed down from Harrisburg.  With only so many in-service hours for continued education or if your school requires you to do this training on your own time it can become overwhelming if you wait until the last minute.  Below is a snap-shot of the additional mandatory training that has been released since 2012: 

• Act 44-2018. With this Act comes THREE hours of mandatory training every FIVE YEARS.  We did get some good news in July when it was decided that schools will be able to select the topics in Act 44 that they believe are the most important to cover the three hours of training but we are still waiting on details about that training from PDE.  
• Act 71-2015.  This Act has a mandatory training component for ALL employees and an additional training obligation for professional educators and other support staff for grades 6-12 of FOUR hours every FIVE years.

Do the math. This adds up to some serious continued education obligations moving forward. 

So my advise to you is...before Act 44 and Act 71  training kicks in get your Act 126 training done now. 

There are both free and fee based providers to help you meet this goal. Safe Schools website can direct you to free Act 126 training and  the IU13 has a very affordable option if you'd rather satisfy the training requirement watching an engaging video.   

On a final note, the Act 126 certificate language has changed. Make sure your provider has that updated format so that the training is honored by PDE.

As always call if you need anything. Until next time. John