This series will be paused at the end of June 2025 due to pauses in funding. We hope to be able to find funding to offer this again in the future!

 “ Speaker discussed several elements of school preparedness.  I was in full agreement with his discussion on the importance of making students feel heard, supported, and safe in order to maximize their learning.  His discussion of the importance of drills and talking about crisis responses with staff and students as a means to prepare ahead of time for an emergency were also reaffirming to some of what we already do.  My biggest personal takeaway from the session was a good reminder that we need to keep this in the forefront of our planning as building administrators.  We need to empower our staff to understand their role in crisis responses and educate them on their options for a response in a bad situation.  So far, I have been very impressed with all of the speakers!  At this juncture, I am hopeful that this is a program (the full speaker series) is something that can be replicated annually with new speakers and topics.” -MS/HS Principal with 10+ years experience

“My major takeaway was that the world, and schools, are always evolving. As a first year teacher, I am seeing this first hand with each day bringing something new in the world that may affect my students. This presentation gave me a better understanding of how to handle these head on.”- Teacher, first year

“The information was informative. I will be bringing it back to my school.  The presentation was positive.” -School Psych with 10+ yrs

"I was really touched by the first video which showed how teacher interaction can make a huge difference for student learning.  Ways to build students self-esteem and confidence were very helpful.  I also appreciated the great resources that were shared during the presentation.  I will definitely be checking some of them out!" - Teacher, 10+ years experience

"WOW! I'm so impressed with this presentation. I absolutely loved her explanation for the difference between acute stress and toxic stress and also how flawlessly she made the connection between toxic stress and student behavior in the classroom. The presentation did a wonderful job at emphasizing not reacting to the problem behavior but focusing how to TEACH positive social emotional skills the might be missing that will help students function within the classroom and as they grow into adults...THANK YOU! I also appreciated that is touched a wide variety of age groups - there were resources for younger elementary-age children, as well as students up through middle school and high school." -School Counselor, 5-10 years experience 

"Watching at your own leisure is awesome!" -Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, 10+ years

"Wow. I hadn't heard a first-hand account from Sandy Hook, and she did it well. It was eye-opening to learn how she changed some procedures to increase physical safety at her school. SEL is also such an important part of the aftermath conversation... like she mentioned, we all hope that it won't happen "here," but we need to be ready to help our students be resilient afterwards if it ever is (and prepare them with increased SEL before anything ever happens)." -Classroom Teacher, 3-5 years experience 

“The resources she provided were amazing! SEL is so critical. Climate is foundational. Internal and external resiliency.” -Mental Health Counselor with 10 + years of experience

“Dr. Melissa Reeves was a very engaging presenter. She had so many resources and practical ideas of how to improve students mental health so that they can be more ready to learn academically. The idea of "positive stress" was a new one to me and it made sense. I'm also going to check out more books by Julia Cook. So many great ideas for learning projects and activities that I can use today in my classroom.” -Teacher with 10+ years experience

“I thought the teen hotline was a really intriguing idea and a great option for teens who may not be comfortable or willing to talk to an adult.  I also was surprised by the list of suicide risk factors in children, and it makes me reflect on my students and their personal and home dynamics.  I appreciate that the speaker is tells us to be direct and clearly communicate when we are concerned that others are showing us the risk factors of suicide.” -Special Education Teacher with 10+ years experience

“I really enjoyed this presentation.  I felt that the information was concrete and explicit.  Relationship building with the parents is so vital and making the positive connections and building a trust before you have to have a conversation that might be negative will make that go better.  I am going to implement ESPN tomorrow morning when I greet students.” -School Counselor with 10+ years of experience