NEW PARIS — National Trail Local School District held a safety based Professional Development (PD) Day for staff on Friday, Oct. 4. According to Superintendent Bob Fischer, the day featured trainings by Kettering Health Network on topics such as CPR, Healthy Living and Wellness, and Stop the Bleed.
“We’ve always had one of our PD days focus on safety. A traditional Professional Development is focusing on curriculum or initiatives — our focus the last two years has been our R Factor stuff and improvement with curriculum and testing. However, we always take a day each year to focus on safety issues. Last year, we did initial Stop the Bleed training and worked in conjunction with our Sheriff’s Department,” Fischer said.
This year, the focus was CPR training, follow-up Stop the Bleed training, and Healthy Living and Wellness training.
CPR Training
Teachers and staff broke into building levels and locations (including buses) to spend two hours on CPR Training. Fischer added, everyone was CPR trained. Bus drivers learned CPR on a bus, since being on a bus is different to being in a classroom and allows them to learn in the situation they would actually be performing CPR in.
“We tried to give more hands on specifics,” Fischer said.
For those staff who were already CPR trained, they worked with Athletic Trainer Samantha Chrismer to apply their existing knowledge to an emergency at a sporting event.
“What are actions you would need to do, what is your role, how do you prevent different things, advanced CPR training, and site management pieces you might have to deal with in the event of a crisis,” Fischer said.
Stop the Bleed refresher
All staff participated in additional Stop the Bleed training, to jog their memory from their training the previous year.
“Stop the Bleed is a program that school districts and community areas put in place to learn skills to prevent somebody from bleeding out in an emergency situation,” Fischer said. “If somebody has an artery that is severed, a person is able to come in, know where to place an tourniquet, and pack wounds. We first became familiar with it last year and did training. If you walk throughout our building, you will see Stop the Bleed kits next to our fire extinguishers.”
Those kits were donated by Kettering Health Network and Reid Hospital.
Healthy Living and Wellness
This training was focused on tips for teachers to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“We’re all over the place – who knows where [teachers] are from time to time, as far as being able to eat and do things. Sometimes they get lunch, sometimes they don’t. It was an opportunity for them to come in and talk about how, as an educator, you can live a healthier life,” Fischer said.
Other topics covered included:
•Keith Kline, Executive Director of Grant Us Hope, gave a presentation on Hope Squads and how National Trail Local School District will be a part of that larger program.
•EVAC Chair training, which showed staff how to evacuate students with mobility issues using the EVAC Chair. National Trail has an EVAC Chair in each of their stairwell, in case of a crisis requiring evacuation of a student in a wheelchair or with other mobility issues from the second floor.
Fischer thanked the following individuals who helped plan and execute the PD Day: Sarah Miller, John Toschlog, Deputy Austin Snowden, and Lori Oda. He also thanked Kettering Health Network for all of their support and staff provided.
He added, out of everything taught during this safety Professional Development Day, he believes the CPR Training was the most important topic covered.
“You never know when you’re in a classroom situation if a kid might choke on something and you can’t wait for the nurse. I do know, from experience, when I was high school principal here. I was CPR-trained and I had a secretary who got a piece of candy lodged in her throat. I was able to perform CPR, because I knew what I needed to do. She retired about two or three years ago and every time she sees me she still says thank you,” he said.
National Trail Local School District is not located near the Sheriff’s Department or New Paris Police Department. In the case of an emergency, it might take time for first responders to arrive. This is why Superintendent Fischer believes it is important for them to focus on improving safety measures and training in the school.
“We want to make sure our staff members know what to do in the event we’re ever faced with any kind of crisis – they need to act on their feet. One of the things they talk about, the reason why you train, is to make sure you react on muscle memory. Just like when you’re training to be a runner, you do it based on muscle memory. We don’t ever want staff to have to delay, we want them to move and act quickly,” he said.
“Our job is not only to educate kids, it is to keep them safe. As a parent myself — and a parent who has a daughter going to this school – I feel if anything were to ever happen, I know we have done everything we can so our kids have that safe feeling. Especially considering our location: when you are out in the middle of nowhere, you have to have a plan. Kids have to know where to go to protect themselves, because it may take time for a first responder to come here.”
