BURLINGTON — Chief Thomas Browne is pleased to share that the Burlington Police Department, in partnership with Safe and Sound Schools, is hosting the Northeast School Safety Summit for law enforcement, K-12 leaders and multidisciplinary teams from around the region and country.
The summit will be held on Thursday, Oct. 24 and Friday, Oct. 25 at Cafe Escadrille in Burlington.
Safe and Sound Schools was founded by parents Michele Gay, mother of Josephine Grace Gay, and Alissa Parker, mother of Emilie Parker. Both women lost their daughters in the Dec. 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Afterward, they founded Safe and Sound Schools, a non-profit school safety advocacy and resource center that provides research-based tools and support for crisis prevention, response, and recovery. Their mission is to help to protect every school, every student, every day.
The Northeast School Safety Summit will bring together national experts and local leaders for two days of keynote addresses and expert panels that will provide insight into current trends and proven practices using the Safe and Sound Schools’ Comprehensive School Safety Framework, which addresses mental and behavioral health; health and wellness; safety and security; culture, climate and community; leadership, law and policy; and operations and emergency management.
The Summit will also emphasize the importance of building relationships to support a “whole community” approach to school safety, exploring how to meet the special needs of students, staff and visitors, the power of cross-functional, multidisciplinary partnerships, and how to leverage law enforcement relationships for safe and sound schools.
Sessions addressing student trauma and mental health, cyber risks facing students, and key lessons from past tragedies will also be held. Survivors from previous school tragedies will speak.
Participants already signed up for the summit include law enforcement and school safety officials from Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
“The Northeast School Safety Summit is attracting attention well beyond Massachusetts, with participants from fifteen regional states, as well as the South and Midwest. This interest emphasizes the national relevance of our speakers and school safety experts, while highlighting the critical need for this information in K-12 communities,” said Michele Gay, co-founder and executive director of Safe and Sound Schools. “The Burlington Police Department and our local partners are providing an invaluable service by offering access to these essential resources and trainings right in their backyard. They are true champions of this effort, and we look forward to an impactful event this October.”
“We are proud to be hosting this summit to better train our own officers, as well as our law enforcement partners from across the region and country to keep our students safe and secure,” said Chief Browne. “This summit will be a major resource for not only our department, but for law enforcement and school officials around the region.”
To learn more about the Safe and Sound Schools Northeast School Safety Summit, or to register to attend, click here.
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