The Sub-Hub Learning Center - 2/10/2009 For immediate release
Florida school districts use online training to meet Ethics in
Education requirements.
Last summer, the Florida Senate passed the Ethics in Education
Act, which requires school districts to train all administrators
and educators in professional and ethical behavior. The bill was
passed in hopes of reducing the number of educator misconduct
cases Florida faces each year.
In 2007, 493 educators were disciplined by the Education Practices
Commission. In 2008, 588 educators faced disciplinary actions. So
far this year, 47 teachers and administrators have been
disciplined.
The Sub-Hub Learning Center, which 17 counties in Florida use to
train their substitutes and paraprofessionals, has developed an
online Ethics training and upgraded their website to include more
trainings in response to the new law.
"The idea of expanding Sub-Hub really started with the Ethics in
Education Act that Florida established last summer," said Rachel
Fisher, Program Director and creator of the Sub-Hub. "Now school
districts in Florida have to train all school employees in ethics.
While the whole point of Sub-Hub was to prepare substitute
teachers and paraprofessionals for the classroom, we've had so
much success that we wanted to offer ethics training for Florida
districts.”
The training, which is based off the Florida Educator's Code of
Ethics and related Florida statutes, was created with input from
the Florida Department of Education and school districts. Not only
does the training meet all state requirements, but it's also been
deemed "entertaining" because of interactive games, widgets, and
videos, which encourages participation and comprehension of the
material.
"I found it informative and easy to understand and navigate," said
a reviewer from Miami-Dade Public Schools. "The games and videos
made it an enjoyable experience."
The training also provides a permanent record of the employee
passing - or failing - the ethics training to the school district.
"We're really not expecting to see a lot of [failures]," said
Fisher. "We already have several districts sending people through
the training, and the scores have all been very high. We've even
seen a few scores of 100%, and this is not an easy training. The
section on Reporting and Discipline especially is very involved,
but we think it's the most important piece. Most people behave
ethically, but we really push the need to report other employees
for unethical behavior. We're very proud of the training."
The Sub-Hub Learning Center - 10/29/2007 For immediate release
Online Program Trains Thousands of Substitute Teachers Nationwide
in Appropriate Classroom Behavior
The Sub-Hub solution being adopted by districts nationwide to
prevent inappropriate sexual conduct, help teachers deal with
student bullying, conflict and other high stress situations
Tampa, FL – Last week, another teacher in Florida was arrested for
having a sexual relationship with her sixteen year old student.
The steady stream of reports detailing inappropriate or criminal
teacher conduct across America has become an all too common
feature of the news.
A Tampa company has come to the rescue of school districts that
are struggling to train new and substitute teachers in
professional standards of conduct, district policies, and
classroom management. The Sub-Hub, an online training program
developed by veteran teachers and school administrators, is now
training and certifying thousands of teachers with explicit
instruction in appropriate classroom behavior – including topics
such as touching and sexual conduct, student privacy, bullying
prevention, conflict resolution, and stress management.
"The most important value the Sub-Hub provides for teachers,
school administrators, and parents is the documentation that a
teacher has understood every aspect of the training,” said Brent
Fisher, president of SIM, developer of the Sub-Hub. "Discussion
of topics such as sexual conduct, bullying prevention, stress
management techniques, and student privacy policy is very precise,
and teachers must verify that they understand every policy and
procedure taught in the course. Having a written record reduces
school liability in instances of misconduct and helps teachers
feel better prepared and protected."
Florida, like most states, requires that substitute teachers be
trained, and until recently that training was done in a live
classroom setting. But the live training model has several major
drawbacks.
Live training for new and substitute teachers is offered at best
once a month and in some districts as infrequently as twice per
year. This creates a challenge for teachers waiting to receive
training to certify their fitness for the classroom and for
districts that are experiencing shortages of substitutes and new
teachers. Twelve districts in Florida, including Miami-Dade
County, the country’s fourth largest school district, are using
Sub-HubTM to augment their live teacher training programs.
Teachers can take the training anytime by logging on to
www.thesub-hub.com and completing the course as their schedule
permits. The cost for the minimum five hour training and
certification is no more than $20, making it affordable for both
individual teachers and the school districts.
"I have been very impressed with the quality of the Sub-Hub
program,” said Donna Wingard, Director of Teacher Certification,
Endorsement and NCLB Compliance for Florida’s Polk County School
District. "We've streamlined our processes without reducing the
quality of our training. I have already recommended the Sub-Hub
to many of my colleagues and associates. I know that they will be
successful long-term because there is such a need for this type of
program."
Evidence that the Sub-Hub is addressing a huge need in American
school districts is evident in the program’s extensive adoption
since its launch in the 2005-2006 school year. By January 2008, 18
states will be using the Sub-Hub, including 3 of the top five
school districts nationwide. As a state, Florida is leading the
nation in the adoption of this training among its school
districts.
SIM, developer of The Sub-Hub, will be among many of its Florida
school district clients this week when it attends and exhibits at
The Florida Association of School Personnel Administrators'
Conference at The Tradewinds Resort Island Grand on St. Petersburg
Beach Nov. 1 and 2. For more information about the conference,
visit the FASPA website.
The Sub-Hub, a small Tampa company, sells school districts online
training programs for prospective teachers so they can learn
appropriate behavior with their students.
By RICHARD MULLINS: The Tampa Tribune (Published April 3, 2008)
TAMPA - Rachel Fisher feels kind of bad about it, but she has
reason to smile each time news emerges about a teacher behaving
badly with students.
That's because her small Tampa start-up company that started at
the family kitchen table, The Sub Hub, now provides an innovative
niche product that offers school districts something almost
invaluable in such cases - legal protections amid teacher sex
scandals. And dozens of major school districts are clamoring to
buy the company's product.
Here's why: The Sub Hub sells online training programs for
prospective teachers to learn what it's like to be a teacher, how
to handle students, classes and virtually everything else - plus
what behaviors teachers are allowed to do, and what they are
very-much-not-allowed to do.
For example, a true or false question states: "It is NEVER
ACCEPTABLE to touch a student in a sexual way or to have a
romantic or sexual relationship with a student."
Or this example: You should never talk about a student with any
parent, except, A) another student's parents, B) that student's
parents, C) your parents, D) the PTA.
That training session creates a timed digital record for the
school district, providing proof that the job applicants took the
class, understood the questions and proved they knew the rules of
conduct and ethics for teachers.
That's a vastly more buttoned-down system than how some school
districts operate, by placing job applicants in a classroom
setting to review rules of behavior - with applicants who may not
be paying attention, and may only put their names on a sign-in
sheet.
Hard as it may be to imagine, in those cases, teachers who broke
the rules could claim that they were never trained by the school
about conduct - and thus the school could be liable for
negligence, letting a bad character into classrooms, if parents of
a victim were to sue the school.
The tests also cover other behaviors that are no-nos, such as
gossiping with students, or discussing one child with another
child's parents.
Meanwhile, cases of teachers behaving badly are stacking up. Three
Tampa Bay area teachers in the past couple of weeks have been
charged with having sexual contact with students. Since 2005, at
least 10 schoolteachers in Hillsborough and neighboring counties
have been arrested on similar charges.
To be sure, Fisher and her husband, Brent, and business partner,
Boe Quisenberry, never quite expected the ethical conduct part of
the tests would prove such a good selling point to their software.
It's a general knowledge and skills test. But for one reason or
another, some major school districts are signing up fast.
Districts as large as Miami-Dade - the fourth-largest in the
nation - have signed up to use The Sub Hub systems, and
Hillsborough County is considering the system. So far, about 10
districts in Florida, including Hernando County, have signed up.
"It's been of immense value to us," said Sherrie Kudla, an
administrator with Hernando County's 20,000-student school
district. So far, 400 substitutes have gone through the training
in the past year, she said. Besides basic policies, the portions
of the test that cover appropriate conduct are especially vital.
"You can never give people that information too many times. They
are required to read that information and understand it, and sign
off that they do. That's very important," she said.
Other major new clients included Indianapolis and Albuquerque. The
New York and Chicago public school districts are in negotiations
to buy the product.
Bernice Gaston, manger of the substitute teacher ranks in
Indianapolis, said her district was impressed enough with the
system to mandate that all teachers take the training, even if
they've been in the district for 30 years or more.
"For long-time teachers, some standards are completely different
than when they started," Gaston said. "Thirty years ago, it wasn't
uncommon for teachers to smack a student. That's not acceptable
now."
While pricing for each district may vary, the revenue adds up
quickly. Job applicants typically pay for the training sessions
themselves, and sessions cost about $10 to $20 apiece. Privately
held, The Sub Hub does not disclose revenue figures, but Fisher
said that "tens of thousands" of people have taken the sessions.
For its next act, the company plans to focus on training for
non-teaching school personnel, such as cafeteria workers, school
bus drivers and coaches.
In April 2008, SIM and the Sub-Hub were featured on FOX 13 news.
Following a wave of teacher improprieties in Florida and
nationwide, interest in standardized professional training
increased dramatically. This feature includes commentary
from one of the Sub-Hub's first customer districts: Polk
County, FL.
SIM, the Tampa-based e-Learning company which offers the Sub-Hub
Training service, was interviewed on the CEO Lounge radio show.
Featured as a "rapid growth" organization, the growth of the Sub-Hub
is generating a lot of attention! Click the link below to listen
to the radio broadcast.
The Sub-Hub is proud
to announce the addition of Baltimore City Public Schools
to the growing list of school districts across the country
who have chosen to prepare their employees using our
programs.
We are also excited to present the new and
improved Sub-Hub Learning Center which is now available to our
tens of thousands of learners and their districts!
