SafeSport Renewal

Last year, on September 1, SafeSport sent me a letter saying I was no longer eligible to compete in dressage events because I had let my SafeSport training lapse. I was seriously annoyed because it felt as though the banishment came out of the blue. I wrote about it of course, and then lots of riders told me they had received reminders that their SafeSport Certification was due to expire.

This year, I've been paying attention, and I have seen the reminder emails. The renewal date is even on my calendar. The problem is that I have just returned to teaching after our very short summer break. In early August I started my district's LONG list of required training. I participated in four, full days of in-person training, and I just finished NUMEROUS hours of video training that covered:

• Comprehensive Safe School Plan
• Child Abuse/Neglect Reporting
• Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response
• Bullying
• Emergency/Disaster Plan
• Bloodborne Pathogens
• Treatment of Concussions
• Shooter On Campus
• AND MORE

I've been trying to find the 30 minutes to sit down and do SafeSport's training, but really, that is such a low priority right now. I know the powers that be think I need to understand how important it is to recognize sexual misconduct, but I think I am pretty well covered with what my district/county/state require. USEF doesn't care that I'm already trained annually. Boxes must be checked off.

The 31st is very quickly approaching.