Fulfilling Pennsylvania Mandates

In order to meet the requirements of the Pennsylvania mandates, the IU1 Center for Professional Development recommends the following training options:

Act 126—Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting Act

Act 126 mandates that all school entities and independent contractors of school entities provide certain training to all employees—including contracted substitute teachers—who have direct contact with children. Training must include both Mandated Reporting (Signs of Child Abuse and Law Provisions for Child Abuse and Reporting) and Educator Misconduct (Educator Discipline Act/Maintaining Professional Relationships/Sexual Misconduct).

Option A: Face-to-Face Session with an IU1 Facilitator

Face-to-face sessions can be scheduled with an IU1 facilitator to cover both the Mandated Reporting and Educator Miconduct requirements.

Mandated Reporting sessions are three hours long and are limited to 50 people per session. The cost is $250 for the trainer for each session, with an additional fee of $2.50 per participant for the training guide.

Educator Misconduct sessions can be scheduled at a cost of $250 for the trainer. However, no Act 49 hour can be awarded for this type of session.

Option B: Online Session from the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center

The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center offers Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse: Mandated and Permissive Reporting in Pennsylvania Online Training. This free, three-hour training covers the Mandated Reporting requirement, and participants can print out a certificate of completion following the training.

Please note that at this time there is no online Educator Misconduct option.

Act 71—Suicide Awareness and Prevention

This law specifically requires school entities to:

Adopt a youth suicide awareness and prevention policy
Provide ongoing professional development in youth suicide awareness and prevention for professional educators in building serving students in grades 6–12

Face-to-Face Session with IU1 Facilitator

IU1 facilitators can provide a four hour session that costs $250 for the trainer per session.

Act 153—Clearances

Act 153 includes provisions requiring updated clearances for school employees and volunteers, and any contractors with direct contact with students. These clearances must be updated every three years.

Act 34—Pennsylvania State Criminal Clearance

The Pennsylvania State Criminal Clearance application can be completed online at using the Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History (PATCH) system. The application costs $10 per person.

Act 151—Child Abuse Clearance

The Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance can be applied for online using the Child Welfare Information Solution (CWIS) Child Welfare Portal. The cost of the online application is $8 per person.

Act 114—FBI Federal Criminal Clearance

The FBI Criminal Clearance requires the applicant to submit fingerprints. Applicants should register through Cogent Systems Applicant Fingerprinting Services for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The cost for fingerprints is $27 per person.

Intermediate Unit 1 Central Office is a site for fingerprinting applicants. To be fingerprinted, all applicants must have a Cogent Systems confirmation number (obtained by registering through Cogent Systems) and a valid photo ID.

IU1 also provides a mobile fingerprinting unit to school districts per request at a cost of $5 per person. To schedule, call Scott Craighead at 724-938-3241 ext. 274.