This week, the Indiana School Safety Specialist’s Academy is training more than 500 new School Safety Specialists. Graduates of the two day live training will also have to complete two additional days of web-based training and a third day of live training this spring before they are certified. Since its founding in 1999, the Academy has certified more than 2,000 School Safety Specialists and has hosted guest students from a dozen states. This week’s Basic School Safety Specialists Academy class was the largest in the School Safety Specialists Academies’ long and impressive history. I have keynoted the School Safety Specialists Academy every year for more than a decade and have always found the audiences to be among the most highly informed conference attendees. It is a pleasure and an honor to be allowed to present at the Academy again today.
The Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy goes to considerable lengths to select excellent presenters not only nationally, but within the state of Indiana. Whether the presenter is a practitioner from Indiana or a national level presenter, The Academy staff carefully scrutinizes speaker evaluations to determine which speakers will be allowed to present in future sessions. Renowned speakers like Dr. Bernie James and Lt. Col. Dave Grossman are also invited back year after year because they have such strong evaluations. Whether presenting for the Basic Academy or for the advanced sessions, I have always felt challenged because I know attendees want new and proven information on school safety. It was truly a pleasure to once again have the opportunity to present for this impressive program.