Tag: School Safety Summit

Introducing Speakers for the 2019 School Safety Summit for Alabama, hosted by nSide – The School Safety Platform

We are just a few days away for the 2019 School Safety Summit down in Orange Beach on December 2nd and 3rd. There is a jam-packed schedule for a plethora of school safety topics, including:

• State Initiatives on Prevention, Communication, and Response 
• Threat Assessment and Crisis Intervention
• Signs and Wayfinding
• Mental Health First Aid
• Stop the Bleed and Tourniquet Use

There will also be specialized training from the Alabama School Safety Task Force and the nSide team. Check out the registration page to download an agenda.

We are excited to have the following speakers and presenters sharing their knowledge, training, and experiences with school safety:

• Dr. Joseph Erardi
  • Dr. Joseph Erardi, a former executive board member of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), recently retired after 40 years of service to CT children. Dr. Erardi served as a school superintendent for 20 years and spent the last four years of his career leading the rebuild and recovery of the Newtown, CT school district. Dr. Erardi continues to make a difference in the lives of children by speaking across the country on school safety and consulting on best practice with security, social-emotional learning, and positive climate and culture. Dr. Erardi has been named as the CT Supt of the Year (2017), the CT PTA Supt of the Year (2016), and the outstanding CT Administrator of the year by both the University of Hartford and Central CT State University (2016). Dr. Erardi remains active in education as an adjunct professor in the CT State University System and by working with numerous Boards of Education as they look to hire their new superintendent.

• Judy Crowley
  • Judy Crowley is a native of Fort Payne, Alabama and is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Tulane University and Boston University where she earned an MBA and a Master’s Degree in Education.  From 1978 until 1991, Mrs. Crowley worked for the U.S. Department of Defense in Europe in several capacities including a school principal for DODDS schools and as the Director of Personnel and Community Affairs for the U.S. Army V Corps.  In 1991, she returned to America and was the Regional Administrator for External Activities for Flowers Hospital until 1998 when she was selected to be the first Executive Director of the Coffee County Family Services Center. In 2018 alone, the Coffee County Family Services Center assisted more than 12,500 Coffee County and Wiregrass citizens.  The Family Services Center continues to reach out to the Coffee County community in innovative ways to help its citizens reach its goals for good health, education and family stability. Judy is married to John Crowley, a retired Army aviator, and they have two children, Dr. Dorothy Crowley, 26 years old and Maggie Crowley, 24 years old.

• Lt. Proncey D. Robertson
  • Lt. Proncey D. Robertson served 4 years in the US Air Force and is a veteran of Desert Storm/Shield.  He began his career in law enforcement while in Arkansas in 1992 and was hired at Decatur Police Department in 1994.  He has remained in Law Enforcement for over 25 years. He is a graduate of the Arkansas & Alabama State Police Academies.  In 2007, Lt. Robertson was deputized as a Special Deputy-US Marshal and served on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Huntsville for 6 yrs from 2007-2013. Lt. Robertson has a long record of documented law enforcement training and experience in a number of subjects. He is a certified instructor in a number of subjects including multiple instructor certifications for “Active Shooter” response for local law enforcement, which includes; ALERRT, SOLO, ALICE & Run, Hide, Fight. He spent over 20 years on Decatur’s SWAT team serving in multiple team positions as well as team commander for 10 years. He is a certified instructor for the National Incident Management System (NIMS), Incident Command System (ICS), and the Homeland Security Course Surveillance Detection.  Lt. Robertson has also served as a member of the Alabama All-Hazards Incident Management Team. (AHIMT) and currently serves on the Alabama School Safety Task Force. Over the years, Lt. Robertson has served and supervised multiple specialized units at Decatur PD to include The Street Crimes Units called Street Hawks, Anti-Crime, Organized Crime, Special Response Unit, (SWAT) Robbery Homicide, Crime Scene, and Community Policing Unit & Sex Crimes.  Lt. Robertson has served as the Public Information Officer for the Decatur Police Department and supervised the School Resource Officer Unit (SRO’s) as well as the Safety Education Unit at Decatur PD. Lt. Robertson joins the nSide team as a subject matter expert on a variety of school safety topics, including emergency response, and has developed curriculum, offered consultation, and  instructed various programs, such as the Warning, Information, Choices, Communication/Command (WICC) training; Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT); Single Officer / Loan Officer Responds to Active Shooter (SOLO);  Run, Hide, Fight (RHF);  Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE); and Colorado Threat Assessment.

• Cynthia Forsythe, Ed.S.
  • Cynthia Forsythe has been an educator for 27 years, most recently as an administrator/supervisor/coordinator for the Franklin County School District.  She has worked as a teacher, coach, coordinator, building level administrator, and central office administrator.  Ms. Forsythe served as the district safety coordinator for 11 years and collaborated and worked diligently with the Sheriff’s Department to secure and develop the school district’s first School Resource Officer (SRO) program.  She also leads the development and implementation of the Franklin County Schools Closed Point of Dispensing Sites (PODs) that was the first and only school system within Alabama that has been approved by the Alabama Department of Public Health.  She currently serves as an advisory board member to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH)-Area 1 Franklin County Healthcare Coalition, the Franklin County Children’s Policy Council, and the Franklin County Special Programming for Achievement Network (SPAN) Program.  She has specialized training in the Colorado Threat Assessment, Warning Signs of Destructive Behaviors and Multidisciplinary Threat Assessment, ALICE, REMS, and Homeland Security All-Hazards Surveillance Detection, to name a few. Cynthia also serves as a Regional Administrator for the Alabama Department of Education and has conducted many trainings for the Colorado Threat Assessment.

• Dale Stripling, Ed.D.
  • Dale Stripling holds a Doctorate Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Alabama, a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Language Arts from UAB, a master’s in Educational Administration from UAB, and an Educational Specialist Degree from Montevallo. Dale has served as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal and a Student Services Supervisor for the Jefferson County Board of Education in Birmingham, Alabama. He currently serves on the Alabama School Safety Task Force. Dr. Stripling is a member of the Alabama Department of Education’s Central Office Task Force on School Safety and regularly assists in regional safety trainings throughout the state. He has served as a judge on the Attorney General’s Blue Ribbon Council for safe schools. He is a certified trainer in the Colorado Threat Assessment protocol and experienced in the REMS School-Based Threat Assessments.  Dale has been affiliated with The Alabama Association of School Resource Officers since 2003. He has served as a district education representative and currently serves as the Executive Education Advisor.

• Mike Cowart
  • Michael Cowart served in law enforcement for 33 years with the Decatur Police Department. There, he served as a School Resource Officer Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant, Anti-Crime Unit Sergeant, and Crime Prevention Specialist. Among Michael’s activities, he supervised 8 School Resource Officers that covered 18 campuses, was the liaison between Decatur City Schools and the Decatur Police Department, conducted lockdown and safety drills (over 9,000 students and 1,000 staff), and developed scenario-based drills and lockdown procedures, to name a few. Mr. Cowart is currently a Regional Safety Administrator for the Alabama State Department of Education, focused on training schools with the Colorado Threat Assessment protocol and identifying student indicators, threats of violence, and scenario-based events.

• Dwight Satterfield
  • Dwight is currently the Operations/Safety Supervisor for Decatur City Schools in Decatur, Alabama. He is a 25 year veteran of education in Alabama, including coaching, teaching, building level administration, and central office administration. He was awarded the 2011 Secondary Principal of the Year by the Council of Leaders in Alabama Schools (CLAS). He has served on numerous leadership and state committees including the Alabama Attorney General’s School Taskforce, the Alabama Department of Education School Safety Taskforce, and the ALSDE Positive Behavior Interventions and Support Advisory Team. It should be noted that Decatur City Schools has been awarded 22 Attorney General Awards related to school safety. He enjoys working and developing school safety plans with school systems across the state.