In today’s episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Michelle Dawn Mooney sat down with Missy Dodds, speaker and trainer for Safe and Sound Schools, a national non-profit school safety advocacy and resource center. They discussed the pivotal role parents play in advocating for and ensuring the safety of their children within the educational environment and how schools can strengthen the school-parent partnership to enhance safety.

Key Takeaways:

• Ways to build an effective school-parent partnership around school safety.

• How schools can offer tools and resources to parents to educate them about school safety and mental health support.

• Opportunities for collaborative relationship building with community organizations to enhance the support they offer to parents.

Missy also shared her personal experience of being a high school math teacher when a school shooting occurred on March 21, 2005. She discusses the traumatic events of that day and the years of healing, including dealing with PTSD.

In honor of National Bullying Prevention Month, School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso sat down with Carolyn Jennings-Brown, Founder and Program Director of “Hey Dude, Nice Shoes” to discuss the importance of:

• Raising awareness about bullying and shifting the focus from merely identifying the problem to finding solutions and promoting kindness.

• How bullying has evolved over the years, especially due to the influence of social media and technology.

• Setting clear standards of behavior for children, to create safe spaces for communication, and to model pro-kindness behavior, as well as celebrating and appreciating children for who they are.

Guest Carolyn Jennings Brown is a dedicated advocate and motivational speaker for anti-bullying and pro-kindness initiatives. She travels across the United States to deliver her presentation, "Hey Dude, Nice Shoes" to students and parents, impacting thousands of lives each year. She also received the National PTA Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to school safety and mental health awareness.

Student suicide prevention is a paramount concern among mental health providers. For one organization, student suicide prevention is more than a concern: it’s their mission.

The alarming rise in mental health crises among youth has become a pressing concern in recent times. With the complexities of modern life and the challenges of the digital age, young individuals are more susceptible to mental health issues than ever before. A startling statistic reveals that in 2019, suicide was the second leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 10 and 34. This alarming statistic underscores the pressing need for comprehensive strategies and interventions to address the mental health crisis among young Americans.

How can we effectively address and destigmatize mental health issues, especially among marginalized communities? The Defensive Line’s mission is to end the epidemic of youth suicide, especially for people of color, by transforming how we communicate and connect about mental health.

In this episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso sat down with Chris and Martha Thomas from The Defensive Line to shed light on the rise and stigma of mental health crisis among youth and discussed the following:

• The necessity to destigmatize some of the myths about mental health, mental illness, and suicide, particularly in marginalized communities of color

• The vital role educators and communities play in recognizing the warning signs of mental health issues and suicide ideation among youth

• The urgent need to provide educational programs and workshops and advocate for a collaborative approach to understand the complete picture and help the person in need

Chris and Martha Thomas are the co-founders of The Defensive Line, dedicating themselves to suicide prevention and mental health awareness in the wake of a personal tragedy. Their endeavors span various platforms, including educational workshops and keynote speeches, aiming to foster environments of understanding and support. The couple has received recognition for their relentless work, including the 2019 AFSP Lifesaver Award.

School Safety Today podcast, presented by Raptor Technologies.

In today’s episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Michelle Dawn Mooney sat down with John-Michael Keyes, executive director and co-founder of the “I Love U Guys” Foundation to shed light on their mission, collaboration, and unique approach to training, all aimed at protecting the joy of youth. During the podcast, they discussed the following:

• The development and implementation of the Standard Response Protocol, a shared vocabulary between students, staff, and the first responders for school safety.

• Challenges and strategies for reunification of students with parents after a crisis while maintaining accountability and mental health support.

• The Foundation’s unique approach to training with insights from trainers having personal experience in crisis.

The “I Love U Guys” Foundation, was established in 2006 after John-Michael and his wife, Ellen, lost their daughter, Emily to a tragic school shooting, Emily's last text messages that day were, “I love U Guys, K” to her mother, and ”I Love U Guys” to her father, which became the catalyst for their mission to restore and protect the joy of youth through educational programs and positive actions in collaboration with families, school, communities, and government entities.

School Safety Today podcast, presented by Raptor Technologies.

In today’s episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Michelle Dawn Mooney sat down with Mark Ruiters, Founder of SchoolPass and Chief Strategy Officer at Raptor Technologies to shed light on the benefits and challenges of private schools automating campus operations through adopting transformative technology and discussed the following:

• The unique challenges private schools face and the impact of technology and modernization on campus operations.

• The value of schools automating the normal day-to-day campus operations that happen so they can proactively focus on the exceptions that can lead to potential safety and security issues.

• How the recent acquisition of SchoolPass by Raptor Technologies will make it easier for school administrators to adopt transformative campus technology that works to make schools safer each day.

Mark Ruiters brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. His work at IBM as a system architect and his involvement with his children’s school led him to the inception of SchoolPass. More recently, he has joined Raptor Technologies as their Chief Strategy Officer.

The rise in adolescent suicides is an alarming trend, gaining global attention in recent years. Youth and young adults ages 10-24 comprise 15% of suicide deaths in the United States and are the second leading cause of death amongst this age group. Amidst these grim statistics, the essential role of educational institutions in suicide prevention is now more pertinent than ever, with educators enlisted to embrace a preventative, proactive approach to fostering a safer environment for their students. Schools recognized the need to address student mental health during the pandemic.

How can schools effectively intervene in this escalating crisis? What changes in approach and understanding are necessary to make schools integral players in suicide prevention?

In today’s episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Michelle Dawn Mooney sat down with Dr. Amy Grosso, Mental Health Consultant, to shed light on this vital issue. The pair discussed comprehensively saving young lives and a school’s role in adolescent suicide prevention.

Mooney and Grosso’s conversation includes the following:

• The importance of a holistic approach to suicide prevention and the actionable steps schools can implement to bolster their existing protocols.

• The necessary shift in perception regarding mental health in schools, broadening the understanding of what constitutes suicide prevention work.

• The value of collaboration between social workers and law enforcement in handling mental health crises in schools, and the challenges and benefits of integrating these two professions.

Dr. Amy Grosso brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience. Her background involves a Ph.D. in counseling and counselor education and a history as a mental health counselor. More recently, she has worked with a school district to develop suicide protocols and threat assessment procedures, even creating a model of school policing where social workers and police work together. Highly active with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for the past five years, Dr. Grosso also serves on their national chapter leadership board, working to help others understand that suicide is preventable and what education is needed.

According to Education Week's school shooting tracker, there have been 18 school shootings this year alone. With the increasing number of these violent incidents, what’s being done to make schools safer?

School Safety Today’s host, Michelle Dawn Mooney, is joined by Max Schachter, the Founder of Safe Schools for Alex, to discuss his advocation for policy change to better safeguard students. Schachter’s youngest son Alex was one of the 17 victims of the 2018 Parkland school shooting. Since then, Schachter channeled his pain to be a national school safety advocate. He discusses what his organization does to ensure school safety and what their goals are now and for the future.

Listen to today’s podcast to learn:

• New policies at the state and federal levels focused on safer educational settings

• How to use data to reduce violence in school communities

• Recommendations for how district leaders and law enforcement officials can work best together

Schachter was appointed to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission where they were tasked with investigating and analyzing information from the Parkland school shooting to develop recommendations to prioritize safety and security in schools. He highlights the successes in working with the Florida Department of Education to create data points that school districts and parents can use to make informed decisions and policies about school safety. The collaboration was the impetus for the School Safety Dashboard where districts, parents and all stakeholders can access this data on a user-friendly platform to help create a safer environment for all.

Some other developments that have come from the commission include the creation of an Office of School Safety, a school safety specialist in every Florida district, an anonymous threat reporting system statewide, a panic app for teachers, a threat assessment team, and a mental health coordinator in all Florida school districts.

Additionally, Schachter pushes for law enforcement to prioritize preparedness and training. “You can’t start the process in the middle of a tragedy or after a tragedy. Now, law enforcement has access to cameras in an emergency. There are reunification plans in place and we now have mandatory active shooter drills on all campuses…and a minimum of at least one, armed officer on every campus throughout the entire state.”

Max Scratcher is the Founder and Executive Director of Safe Schools for Alex. He’s one of the nation’s leading school safety advocates, serving as a corporate and governmental advisor on matters related to school shootings and security. Schachter works alongside members of Congress, leaders of federal agencies, and Presidents of the United States which has led to the creation of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse at SchoolSafety.gov. He’s interviewed with many media outlets including CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and ABC.

Student safety has been a major topic in the last few years as more violent acts have occurred on school grounds. While some of it happens after school hours, student safety is still under threat, and the ways we combat this danger has room to improve. So how are schools ensuring student safety and improving their ways of maintaining a safe space for all?

On this episode of School Safety Today, host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks with Chris Hendrickson of Las Vegas, Nevada. Hendrickson was a responding officer to the Route 91 Harvest Festival massacre in 2017; this traumatic event made Hendrickson think better methods can be used for managing accountability during a crisis.

“Because of the chaotic nature of that event, there was a lot of people that were considered missing for a long period of time, and there really wasn’t an easy way to account for those event participants,” says Hendrickson. “If law enforcement was afforded the ability to get the information from the ticket sales, we could have at least been able to create a list of who was there, who had left, and who was missing at that time.”

More recently, Hendrickson has become the Director of Safety and Security at The Alexander Dawson School independent private school in Las Vegas. On ensuring student safety, Hendrickson stated, “We have upgraded our security and surveillance systems a lot since I’ve started. We’ve added more cameras, more analytical cameras, AI for our surveillance systems; we conduct regular drills to increase that muscle memory for taking accountability and knowing where to go and how to do certain things in the drill.” He continued by adding, “And we do consistent training for our security staff, whether it be in just normal response or active shooter or responding to an irate parent, for example, we do a lot of different training.”

Chris Hendrickson was an Army Squad Leader in the U.S. Army for over ten years; in-between he received his B.A. from the University of Nevada and was a police officer for the Henderson Police Department. He is currently the Director of Safety and Security for the Alexander Dawson School.

Natural disasters are one of the most unpredictable, but expected forms of destruction that humanity can expect to happen anywhere and at any time. Unfortunately, many types of disasters result in the loss of life, in addition to wide-scale devastation. When it comes to educational facilities like schools, there’s a certain type of disaster response that communities will need in the aftermath of one. The city of Joplin, Missouri, which experienced a deadly tornado in 2011, would come to terms with this when a disaster occurred on a high school’s graduation day and caused the death of seven students and a staff member.

Natural disasters are unavoidable, but how can preparedness, particularly in schools, assist in response efforts to them? And what did Joplin School officials learn from it?

In the latest “School Safety Today” podcast, host Michelle Dawn Mooney interviewed Dr. C.J. Huff, an Education Consultant and Disaster Recovery Expert and the former superintendent of Joplin Schools. Dr. Huff discussed how the tornado impacted the district’s students, families, and staff and what he learned from the urgent needs Joplin needed immediately after.

Mooney and Huff also talked about …

1. How the Bright Futures framework assisted in Joplin Schools' recovery and rebuilding efforts following a devasting EF-5 tornado

2. Strategies to build local leadership and resource capacity

3. Lessons learned that are applicable to the day-to-day crises school communities face

“One of the primary lessons learned and where Bright Futures really comes into play, is the idea that relationships matter. You have to have relationships in your community, across your community, and across your region, in order to be able to be successful in that long-term recovery effort,” said Dr. Huff.

“Because all disasters start at low point, have a lot of resources pouring into your community initially, but the next disaster comes along, those resources go away to address that next disaster, and you kind of find yourself relying on those resources you have there locally or regionally, and the thing that Bright Futures did for us in Joplin, prior to the disaster, was allowed us that opportunity to build those connections, relationships across the community, put support structures in place to meet the needs of our kids, identify those resources, create systems that would allow us to get those resources quickly to our children, so that we can stabilize our lives to the greatest degree possible as we dealt with poverty issues and other issues that surfaced that so many of our kids are faced with, and then leverage those partnerships and relationships to create new opportunities for our kids.”

Dr. C.J. Huff is an educator, an Education Consultant and Disaster Recovery Expert, and the former superintendent of Joplin Schools. He led his district’s disaster response strategy, and he has over two decades of experience as an educator. Dr. Huff is also the founder of Bright Futures USA.