Although Spring is officially here, there is a chance that lingering winter weather is keeping you indoors. Take advantage of the situation and enroll in online NAPT Online Professional Development Series (PDS) classes.

NAPT PDS online classes are used across the U.S. for certification, recertification, inservice, and general professional development. Each course is self-paced, and can be completed when and where it is convenient, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

	•	Inservice Training – Everyone in the pupil transportation industry can benefit from quality inservice training and professional development. Each NAPT online class is offered with a school year designation. This means that each course is released each year for enrollment, completion, and credit. In the past, you could only take an online version and receive credit once.
	•	Recertification Requirements – Anyone who holds a NAPT Certification must be recertified every three years. NAPT PDS online courses can be used to earn up to 10 recertification points over the 3 years.
	•	Certification – NAPT offers a variety of certifications for Transportation Directors, Supervisors, Specialists, and Instructors. Online courses are available to anyone in the pupil transportation industry and ready for immediate enrollment.

 
Feel free to pass this information along to anyone who may be interested in school bus driver or pupil transportation training!

 

Online school bus driver training offered by the Oklahoma Association for Pupil Transportation (OAPT), in partnership with School Training Solutions (STS), is recognized by the Oklahoma Department of Education (OKDOE) as meeting the classroom requirement for school bus driver training certification. The interactive school bus driver training course was developed in collaboration with the OKDOE and includes state-specific topics designed for OK school bus drivers!

Online training eliminates the need for training-related travel expenses, frees up instructors for other duties, simplifies data tracking and reporting, and provides a consistent curriculum to all individuals enrolled in the course. Individuals learn at their own pace, when and where it is convenient.

Stress Management, or “Would you like some concert coordination fries with that holiday stress special?”

by Andrew Metzger

One of the tasks connected to my administrative position at Pensacola State College involves coordinating virtually every aspect of an annual production of Handel’s Messiah, complete with 70-member chorus, full orchestra and four professional guest soloists. The best way to describe my responsibilities would be to say that I am in charge of everything that is not singing, playing an instrument or waving the conductor’s baton. And yes, as one might readily assume, this annual concert always takes place in December and always draws a large audience.

So, on top of everything we normally associate with holiday stress – gift buying, card sending, social events, eating all the wrong foods, etc. – I get to serve as the do-almost-everything person for a major performing arts event. If things don’t go off without a hitch, guess in whose direction the eyes of every singer, musician, soloist and ticket buyer turn?

How do YOU spell stress?

Enter the very useful Stress Management course offered through Smart Horizons’ School Training Solutions program. So many of the lesson points resonate with me.

This hits home because, as I simultaneously coordinate concert logistics, marketing, ticket sales, payroll, dealing with concert participants and interacting with the public, specific sources of stress tend to merge into an ambiguous stressful whole. My body is definitely responding across all categorical boundaries. It’s just stress! Add in the normal “holiday responsibilities” I’m at least subconsciously aware are being neglected in the midst of Messiah, and things get even more nonspecific! The STS lesson refers to stress being a “physical, chemical, and emotional reaction” – check, check and check!

“If you are angry, frightened, depressed, or worried, your relationships with other people are going to suffer.”

Ah, this so true! The techniques suggested in the course are wonderful preventive medicine against these emotions welling to the surface as I deal with literally a thousand people during the concert cycle. As the captain of this massive holiday vessel, I have to maintain a smiling, confident, everything-is-going-to-be-just-fine demeanor no matter what comes flying at me.

“…the future is but a dim promise over which you have no direct control.”

I love this nugget of STS wisdom. I’m going to cling to this thought as I center myself within and conquer each present moment, and before I know it, the dim promise that another successful Messiah performance has been achieved will become its own present moment!

“Think positively–if you think you cannot, you cannot!”

So true, STS! And I would add to thinking positively the idea of not trying to think of everything at one time. On concert night, I must remind myself that I can only put out one fire at a time.

“The relaxation response enables our bodies to recover from the toxic effects induced by the flight or fight response.”

There’s not much choice for me but to quickly engage the relaxation response when the flight or fight response wells up from within. I really can’t run out the front door of the concert venue and jog down the street— and trading punches with performers and/or patrons would be even less productive. I am a firm believer in the quick execution of the relaxation response!

“Humor—Laugh and the world laughs with you. Do not take yourself or the job too seriously.”

All I can say is “Bingo!”

But what ABOUT those gifts, and greeting cards, and social events, and all that rich food that makes us feel guilty, or even ill? The techniques outlined in the STS Stress Management course apply there as well, and anywhere else in life, really. So, if you feel the stresses of the holiday season beginning to close in on you – activating that sneaky, primordial flight or fight response – just remember that it could be worse. At least you don’t have to coordinate a major holiday concert. And even if you do, well, now you have the resources to cope with it!

Andrew Metzger
Guest blogger
School Training Solutions

Discounted Course:   Stress Management This course familiarizes employees with stress management techniques. It identifies the difference between reactions to real sources of stress and reactions to symbolic sources of stress. This course identifies the sources and significance of stress and effective methods for managing stress to improve personal health and job performance. Regularly $15.00 / Now $10.00

For a short time we are offering 2 courses at a discounted rate. By purchasing our Conflict Resolution and Sexual Harassment courses together as a package, you will receive them at our special discounted price of $20. These courses are normally $15 a piece, so take advantage of this deal while it is available.