On June 30, 2022, Nicholas Slotterback, Health and Physical Education Advisor, PDE Division of Instructional Quality disseminated a PennLink message titled Approved Seizure Training for School Personnel to all LEAs. The message said that the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) recently shared guidance for an approved seizure recognition and response training for school personnel, which stated that on November 17, 2021,Ā Act 84 was signed into law in Pennsylvania. This law, which is effective at the beginning of the 2022-223 school year, added section 1414.11, related to seizure recognition and related first aid to the Public School Code. Act 84 enables professional employees of a school entity to be trained in seizure recognition and response through an online course or in-person training approved by PDH. Under Act 84, the approved course must be provided at no cost and count toward a professional educator’s continuing professional education requirement and a school or system leader’s continuing professional education requirement.
In consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and theĀ Department of Health’s Epilepsy Program, PDH determined the following course from the Epilepsy Foundation to meet the requirements of Act 84 and was approved for use in Pennsylvania schools:
Seizure Training for School Personnel
Though the training is voluntary, PDH recommends completing the training every two years, consistent with other health-related trainings for school personnel, such as CPR, First Aid, AED, and EpiPen trainings. For questions regarding school health-specific trainings (Seizure Recognition & First Aid, Epinephrine or CPR/First Aid) please contact [email protected] and indicate the training topic in the Subject line.