ONC BOCES chooses PublicSchoolWORKS to ensure compliance for itself and schools across vast coverage area
Cincinnati, OH | September 18, 2014 — Otsego Northern Catskill (ONC) BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) adopted the PublicSchoolWORKS EmployeeSafe Suite to manage safety compliance tasks, staff training, accident management and risk prevention. Of the 19 component districts under ONC BOCES, six component districts directly implemented EmployeeSafe in conjunction with the ONC BOCES Safety /Risk Management program for the 2014-2015 school year.
ONC BOCES serves its component districts through multiple locations dotted across a vast five-county region. When the ONC BOCES long-time safety risk officer was set to retire in the spring, and take her extensive experience in managing compliance requirements with her, ONC BOCES needed a comprehensive-but-easy program to ensure a smooth transition that maintained compliance with all federal and state mandates. After vetting numerous vendors and programs, ONC BOCES partnered with PublicSchoolWORKS to help manage safety and compliance-related requirements. After successful use by ONC BOCES staff located in multiple offices, the decision was made to extend the EmployeeSafe program to its component districts.
“The major challenge ONC BOCES faced when implementing and maintaining a safety program was the large territory we cover,” said Dr. Jennifer Bolton-Carls, Deputy Superintendent at ONC BOCES. “It was difficult to follow the compliance task calendar and ensure all employees were on the same schedule with our facilities so far apart. With PublicSchoolWORKS, we now know we are not missing anything, and our administration, educators and custodians are all on the same page.”
Now that ONC BOCES is using EmployeeSafe as an automated tool for its Safety/Risk Management program, which helps participating component districts understand, interpret, and comply with safety regulations, the sole safety risk officer can ensure compliance across all BOCES locations and participating component district sites.
Additionally, ONC BOCES staff members have the support of PublicSchoolWORKS’ research and development team who tracks and interprets new legislation, proactively creates new content based on this legislation, and notifies ONC BOCES so it can deploy any new training or task to the appropriate employees.
“Now our safety risk officer can track very specific tasks, like asbestos plans and fire inspections,” said Bolton-Carls. “Some of our district employees are getting close to retirement, but PublicSchoolWORKS ensures that all compliance tasks, even those mandated by new legislation, will be completed in those districts.”
For more information about other school districts and organizations that have seen success with PublicSchoolWORKS, visit our case studies page.
About PublicSchoolWORKS
Since 2000, the PublicSchoolWORKS safety compliance solutions have focused on helping schools easily meet ever-changing regulatory compliance requirements, improve staff and student safety, cut costs associated with risk, and reduce administrator and staff time and effort. PublicSchoolWORKS is the only complete K12 safety compliance management program created by and for schools, and is proud to provide districts with award-winning technology and support recognized by North American educators. For more information on how PublicSchoolWORKS can improve district safety programs, contact 1-877-779-6757 or [email protected].
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