District outlines long mandatory online trainings; staff say modules took many hours, district seeks reductions

Assistant Superintendent Shelly Houston told the board the district was required to deliver and document multiple state- and federally-mandated staff trainings through the district’s VECTOR online platform and that some staff had expressed concern about the total time required.

Houston said the raw video time pulled into VECTOR totaled 248 minutes (about 4 hours, 8 minutes) and that one staff member reported the full completion time including checkpoints and final assessments came to roughly 9 hours, 30 minutes. “We do know that that is an extensive work day just to complete them,” Houston said.

Houston and HR manager Jenny Bruce reviewed the requirements and told the board some trainings are explicitly labeled “training” by the approving state agency and must be delivered as recorded training—meaning the district must show evidence of time spent and assessment completion to show compliance. Houston said some trainings include strict timing or certification requirements; for example, the district found the harassment training required by the approving body could not be shorter than one hour in the district’s current content.

To reduce burden for staff, Houston said the HR team identified alternative video content and removed or reclassified items that are “review” rather than mandated training. Houston said those changes have cut about 94 video minutes from the VECTOR package for next year and that the district is exploring scheduling training windows before students return to campus and adjusting deadlines for items that are not time-bound. She said several trainings still must be completed within 30 days of the first day of school or within other specific windows.

Houston said the changes were driven in part by the need to document compliance to receive federal funds and to show the district’s professional development plan. She said the district will continue to work with HR to seek other options and to ensure records show completion time and assessment results when required.

The board discussed whether assessments that allow a single perfect-score attempt might be used where regulations permit; Houston said the district is reviewing whether that approach meets the requirements of specific approving agencies.