Section II: Training and Professional Development

The Taunton Public School Professional Development Plan reflects the requirements under M.G.L. c. 71, § 37O to provide ongoing professional development for all staff, including but not limited to, educators, administrators, counselors, school nurses, cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, athletic coaches, advisors to extracurricular activities, and paraprofessionals.  Staff training will consist of annual training and more frequently when needed.
 

The following professional development will be facilitated:
 

1. Annual staff training on the Plan.  Annual training for all school staff will include staff duties under the Plan, an overview of the steps that the principal or designee will follow upon receipt of a report of bullying or retaliation, and an overview of the bullying prevention curricula to be offered at all grades throughout the school or district.  Staff members hired after the start of the school year will be required to participate in school-based training during the school year in which they are hired, unless they can demonstrate participation in an acceptable and comparable program within the last two years.
    
2. Ongoing professional development.  The goal of professional development is to establish a common understanding of tools necessary for staff to create a school climate that promotes safety, civil communication, and respect for differences.  Professional development will build the skills of staff members to prevent, identify, and respond to bullying.  As required by M.G.L. c. 71, § 37O, the content of schoolwide and district-wide professional development will be informed by research and will include information on:
   1. developmentally and age-appropriate strategies to prevent bullying;
   2. developmentally and age-appropriate strategies for immediate, effective interventions to stop bullying incidents;
   3. information regarding the complex interaction and power differential that can take place between and among an aggressor, target, and witnesses to the bullying; 
   4. research findings on bullying, including information about specific categories of students who have been shown to be particularly at risk for bullying in the school environment;
   5. information on the incidence and nature of cyberbullying; and
   6. Internet safety issues as they relate to cyberbullying