Find Out How You Can Set Up a Training Program in Your District
During the fiscal year 2009-10, the Indiana Supreme Court offered educational programs to over 1000 judicial branch personnel, including trial court staff, Supreme Court agency employees, elected Clerks and clerk staff. Four types of delivery methods were employed to provide training: state-wide conferences, district/county-wide seminars, in-house programs and internet webinar. This article will focus on two of those educational methods—district training and web-based training.
District/County Training for Trial Court and Clerk Staff
Over three hundred twenty-seven (327) court and clerk staff members were trained on the county or district level during 2009-10. Training was conducted in five districts–District 1 with Lake County hosting; District 2, St. Joseph (one session in 2009 and one in 2010); District 4, Tippecanoe; and District 13, Vanderburgh. Allen and Elkhart Counties were the sites of individual county training. Topics included: customer service, jury management, ethics, court records, and quarterly statistical reports.
There are a number of reasons why it has been very beneficial to train court and clerk staff in the same sessions. Through joint education participants were able to identify ways in which delivery of court/clerk services could be coordinated more effectively as well as achieving greater communication between offices. District training also allowed attendees to learn about the practices utilized by their colleagues from other counties. A sense of camaraderie grew as they discovered that others experience similar challenges. One goal of training at the district/county level is to develop local resources for conducting future educational sessions.
What steps does a district need to take to set up training for court/clerk staff? First, judges must decide to have training on the district level. In the past, the decision to host training has been the result of a judge or small group of judges who saw a particular training need. In the future, districts may determine the need for court staff training in a variety of ways, including routine training on a rotating basis among the constituent counties.
When the decision is made to have district training, a judge should contact the Indiana Judicial Center to discuss types of training, appropriate topics, possible dates and potential audience. The Judicial Center will coordinate the training if there is a decision by the district and Center to go forward. Priority will be given to those districts that request training for the most geographical diversity.
The host is responsible for securing an appropriate facility with sufficient seating, sound equipment, LCD projector and screen. The district sends the invitations and is responsible for registering attendees, maintaining a list of the total number persons at the training, and breaking down the attendees by county and employer. That information will be sent to the Judicial Center.
The Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration generally provides the faculty while the Judicial Center coordinates the efforts and produces handout materials for attendees.
Judges and other supervisors are encouraged to participate in local education as they can help lead the discussion and give their staff guidance on discretionary issues. Ideally, a district training session is just the starting point for further discussions in each court, among courts within the county, and ultimately with participation by the courts of the district as a whole.
Web-Based Training
Due to geographical distances and the number of trial court employees, face-to-face education is not always possible. The Judicial Center is exploring ways to use technology, especially the internet, to broaden the delivery of education to court staff. As part of that effort, a webinar on using the Jury Toolbox was offered to all Indiana courts by the National Center for State Courts in May of 2010. The Judicial Center assisted by sending the invitations and providing other logistical support. Court and clerk personnel from thirteen counties participated in the webinar as well as Judicial Center staff members. We hope to expand our efforts in this area. We would appreciate your input as to types of programming that you feel would most greatly benefit court staff.