CEU’s: Not as big a deal as we thought
Dear CPS
Technicians and Instructors of
I gotta tell ya, this new ‘CEU’ and community education requirement to
recertify had me a little scared. When National
Safe Kids sent out the announcement in January, I was pretty much thinking of
letting my Technician certification lapse (since I wasn’t managing the CPS
program for OTS anymore). Ah, but my
Higher Power does have a sense of humor, as I once again became the state’s
Child Passenger Safety Program manager in April. And my certification was expiring on May 5th!
I quickly called the powers that be (Kerry Chausmer of
National Safe Kids) and literally begged for a one month extension so that I
could get my required CEU’s under my belt. She gladly acquiesced, and also kindly gave
me several ideas for quickly obtaining those CEU requirements. I also contacted several CPS Technician
Instructors that I know for assistance and moral support (please go to http://www.ots.state.nv.us/training.shtml for more
CEU help).
Bottom line: It
took me less than a week to earn my six required CEU’s
for recertification. Fortunately, I had
also been involved in several community education efforts relating to car seats
over the past two years, and had access to a local instructor to sign off on my
five required seat installs (all in one day—heat stroke city!)….Less than a
week to re-new a certification that I had had up to two years to complete!
And technically speaking, this new process actually makes
us update our skills in the process; the old system allowed us to procrastinate
until the 11th hour before taking the on-line quiz, and hey, we all
know how easy multiple-choice tests are—that’s why we liked them in middle
school! But this new process focuses on
us learning new technical skills, seats, products, systems, etc—and actually
guarantees that we ARE utilizing our skills to educate the community and
increase the safety of our children on Nevada roadways.
So, I’m eating crow in this letter and letting you know
that we are here to help you with your recertification needs in any way that we
can. It really isn’t that bad.
GB,
Traci Pearl