WAKEFIELD — Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) Executive Director Margie Daniels announces that MPY will host a hybrid conference, “Challenges and Solutions in School Safety and Security,” on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The event will be held at Minuteman High School, located at 758 Marrett Road in Lexington, from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with registration starting at 8:15 a.m. Participants may attend in person or join virtually via Zoom.
This conference will provide a comprehensive interdisciplinary overview of how schools can create more resilient and secure environments through a unified, collaborative approach. Presenters will highlight the importance of coordination between schools and public safety agencies, and will share practical, low-cost strategies that help districts move from reactive to proactive safety planning.
Topics will include developing memorandums of agreement for evacuation and transportation, Incident Command System (ICS) planning, relationship mapping, de-escalation, and retribution against schools in the digital age.
Featured speakers include:
- Dan Bell, Captain, Topsfield Police Department
- Michael Cassidy, Fire Chief, Holliston Fire Department
- Neal S. Hovey, Police Chief, Holliston Police Department
- Lisa Maccario, M.Ed., MHC, Clinical Director of Training, Northeast Essex County law enforcement
- Todd McGhee, Certified Project Management Professional, international speaker, and counterterrorism expert
- Scott Morrison, Ed.D., Superintendent, Tri-Town School Union
- Michelle Muffett-Lipinski, M.Ed., Founder/Principal, Northshore Recovery High School
The speakers bring extensive backgrounds in law enforcement, fire services, behavioral health, crisis leadership, education, and counterterrorism. Collectively, their experiences span decades of service in public safety, school administration, mental health, community engagement, national and international training initiatives.
Holliston Fire Chief Michael Cassidy, one of the conference’s presenters, said strong partnerships between schools and public safety agencies are essential.
“School safety is a shared mission, not a solo act,” said Chief Cassidy. “My message is simple: The time to get familiar with your partners isn’t when the alarm is sounding. Fire, police, school administration, and our mental health professionals must train together, side-by-side, long before an incident occurs. When we practice together — understanding each other’s protocols, capabilities, and communication methods — we build a muscle memory of cooperation. This means that if the worst happens, we won’t be exchanging business cards; we’ll be executing a coordinated, seamless response that ultimately saves lives and protects our students. Proactive, collaborative training is the single greatest investment we can make in our children’s safety.”
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth. MPY programming reaches nearly 6,000 educators per year in Massachusetts, spread across approximately 300 districts, with more than 190 webinars and over a dozen conferences and seminars.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission. To learn more, visit: massachusettspartnershipsforyouth.com.
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