SafeSchools Training: A Chore Worth Taking Seriously

Attention educators: Chicago Public Schools is wise to your teacher tricks.

Teachers figured out a way to get around watching the lengthy SafeSchools online modules that ensure all CPS employees complete required student-protection, safety and compliance training. So, the school district did something about it.

No longer can you simply push play on their videos, run off and do something else – cook, work out, wash dishes – and come back and complete an ultra-easy multiple-choice test to earn your certification.

I just completed the Mandated Reporter module. (Darn) thing took me almost two hours. Why? For one, you can’t change the speed on the settings of the videos anymore. Teachers across the city had mastered the art. You could speed it up just enough to finish things in, oh, 15-20 minutes before you were supposed to. But there was a sweet spot: You could speed the video up too much and the module would recognize this, scold you and make you watch the thing all over again. Happened to a friend of mine (wink).

That was then. Now, Big Brother is watching. As you start the Mandated Reporter module, you’re issued this warning:

“Please be advised that you are solely responsible for thoroughly completing this training in its entirety, including watching all videos in their entirety, reading all text completely, listening to all narration in full, and thoroughly reading and completing each knowledge check.”

Then, they hit you with the Big Brother (stuff):

“At the conclusion of this training, you will be asked to certify that you have completed this course in accordance with these requirements. DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) tracks and monitors your time spent completing each training course. Certificates of Completion are issued solely at DCFS’ discretion and are not an unconditional guarantee that DCFS will award professional development credit(s).”

Wait, is there someone being paid to watch me watch videos?! That’s rich.

More than in years past, now there’s a whole lot of scrolling down you must do, as well as clicking plus signs to “explore common questions” from other Mandated Reporters and flipping flashcards to “discover the key takeaways from (the) module.” They make you periodically answer quiz questions to make sure you’re not loafing around watching a Netflix movie when you’re supposed to be training.

They even make you take a 19-question pre-test. I got 18 right. That’s an A+ in my class. Please let me skip the rest of this (stuff). What did the fine score mean to the SafeSchools people? Absolutely nothing. You still have to complete the six-section module, read the wrap-up and then take yet another test, the post-test, with the same questions from the pre-test.

The second go-around, my score was – drum roll – the same as the pre-test, 18/19. Some people never learn.

For those teachers who dread watching these modules and think it’s a waste of time, I’ll say this: I thought the same thing, then I went to the Alaskan Bush during COVID and taught for a year. There, they make you watch the modules, too. And you think it’s a chore.

Alcoholism, sexual abuse and suicide are major issues in Inupiat villages throughout the Arctic Region. The modules teach you how to see signs.

And wouldn’t you know it, you do see signs of certain things. I did. Symptoms of children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which is caused when a mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy, are small eyes, poor eyesight, very thin upper lips, a smooth skin ridge between the nose and upper lips, heads disproportionately smaller than the rest of their bodies and learning disabilities.

I saw all of that in my Alaskan village. And it occurred to me then that, holy cow, the modules were right! I chronicle this discovery in my new book “Where I Belong: A Black Teacher’s Quest to Find His Home.”

So, teachers, my advice would be to take the modules for what they are, a tool to help you spot when kids are being mistreated. That’s ultimately always a chore worth taking seriously.