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Skriven 2006-10-09 23:31:34 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0610093) for Mon, 2006 Oct 9
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Biographies of Panelists in a Conference on School Safety
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For Immediate Release
October 9, 2006

Biographies of Panelists in a Conference on School Safety


˙˙˙˙˙ Conference on School Safety ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Education

PANEL I: PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

Moderator: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General


Jeff Dawsy, Sheriff, Citrus County, FL (Beverly Hills, FL)

A veteran of the criminal justice profession for over 25 years, Jeff Dawsy
has served as Sheriff of Citrus County (an elected position) since 1996. As
Sheriff, he has strongly supported school resource officer programs, many
child-centered programs, and led the investigation of the Jessica Lundsford
abduction, sexual assault, and murder case that received national attention
and state legislative responses. In 2000, under his leadership, the Citrus
County Sheriff's Office received law enforcement recognition from the
Florida Commission of Law Enforcement Accreditation and in 2003, the office
received law enforcement recognition from the Commission on Law Enforcement
Accreditation (CALEA). Jeff resides in Citrus County with his wife and
three children.


Dr. Delbert Elliott, Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of
Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado (Boulder,
CO)

Dr. Elliott has served since 1993 as director of the Center for the Study
and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where
is he currently working on a comprehensive study analyzing the causes of
the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School.˙ Dr. Elliott has been
either a Professor or a Professor Adjoint in the University of Colorado's
Department of Sociology since 1967.˙ He is also Director of the Program on
Problem Behavior at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University
of Colorado.˙ Dr. Elliott is the author of numerous books, papers, and
other publications about youth violence.


Thomas Kube, Executive Director and CEO, Council of Educational Facility
Planners (Scottsdale, AZ)

Thomas Kube is Executive Director and CEO of the Council of Educational
Facility Planners (CEFPI), based in Scottsdale, Arizona.˙ He is an expert
on ways to reduce the risks of targeted school violence through building
and environmental design.˙ CEFPI is a professional association whose
mission is improving the places where children learn.˙ CEFPI's 3000 members
_ architects, planners, engineers, K-12 administrators, higher education
professionals, and facility maintenance and operations professionals, among
others _ are actively involved in planning, designing, building, equipping
and maintaining schools and colleges in ways that promote student safety,
among other objectives.˙ As Executive Director and CEO, Mr. Kube is
responsible for planning, organizing and directing staff in advancing the
policies, objectives and services of CEFPI.


Georgeann Rooney, Threat Assessment Specialist, U.S.
SecretServiceNationalThreat AssessmentCenter (Arlington, VA)

Ms. Rooney is a Threat Assessment Specialist with the U.S. Secret Service
National Threat Assessment Center.˙ She is project manager of the Bystander
component of the Safe School Initiative, which seeks to identify factors
influencing a student's decision to report planned school violence to
authorities.˙ She also oversees production of the Safe School Initiative
Interactive CD-ROM.˙ This product will present school-based threat
assessment teams with mock threat scenarios that are designed to stimulate
discussion and improve prevention efforts.˙ Ms. Rooney has been employed
with the U.S. Secret Service since 2001.˙ Prior to her employment with the
Secret Service, Ms. Rooney worked at the American Institutes for Research,
a behavioral and social science research organization, and at an inpatient
psychiatric hospital with adolescent and involuntarily committed adult
populations.˙ Ms. Rooney holds a B.S. in Psychology from St. Joseph's
University and an M.A. in Criminal Justice from the George Washington
University.˙


Fred Wegener, Sheriff, Park County, CO (Bailey, CO)

Fred Wegener, the Sheriff of Park County, CO since 1999, oversaw the law
enforcement response to the shooting incident at the Platte Canyon High
School in Bailey, CO (September 2006).˙ In 1981, he graduated from the U.S.
Air Force Security Police Academy.˙ In 2005, he was the first sheriff from
Park County to attend and graduate from the FBI National Academy.˙ Sheriff
Wegener has lived in Park County since 1970 and graduated from Platte
Canyon High School.˙ He is married with two children, both of whom either
graduated from or currently attend Platte Canyon High School.


Gregory White, U.S. Attorney (North Ridgefield, OH)

Greg White was appointed by President George W. Bush on March 24, 2003, as
the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.˙ As U.S. Attorney, Mr.
White serves as the district's chief federal law enforcement official and
manages a staff of approximately 170 people, including 74 Assistant U.S.
Attorneys, who handle civil litigation and criminal investigations and
prosecutions.˙ Under his leadership, the office was recognized nationally
in 2004 for having the outstanding comprehensive strategic plan for
reducing gun violence in the city of Youngstown, Ohio.˙ A career
prosecutor, Mr. White was elected to office six-times, serving for
twenty-two years as the Prosecuting Attorney for Lorain County, prosecuting
state criminal offenses and handling civil litigation in Ohio's 9th largest
county.˙ Mr. White received his undergraduate degree from Kent State
University in 1973 and received his law degree with high honors from
Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 1977.˙ A resident of North Ridgeville,
Ohio, Mr. White is married and the father of two daughters.



PANEL II: PREPARED SCHOOLS _

Moderator: Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education


Fred Ellis, Director, Office of Safety _Fairfax CountyPublic Schools,
(Centreville, VA)

Fred has been Director of the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Safety
and Security Operations since 2000.˙ As Director, Fred has worked with
school and district officials to develop a robust Emergency Response Plan,
considered one of the most comprehensive plans in the country.˙ The school
division and all FCPS facilities have safety and security plans.˙ The plans
are designed with the help of school security staff members, as well as
local law enforcement, emergency management, and public health officials.˙
Plans are regularly reviewed and updated.˙ These plans include procedures
to respond to critical incidents, such as fire or tornado, and school
system personnel practice these drills regularly.˙ Prior to his current
role in FCPS, Mr. Ellis spent 23 years in the Fairfax Police Department,
retiring as a Major.˙


Jim Moore, Watch D.O.G.S., (Springdale, AR)

Jim Moore is the founder of Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), a
National Center for Fathering program helping fathers reconnect with their
children at hundreds of schools across the country.˙ Jim founded the
program in the wake of the tragic 1998 middle-school shooting in Jonesboro,
AR with the goal of preventing a similar incident from occurring at his
child's school _ or at any school.˙ The program was officially launched at
George Elementary in Springdale, AR, the school of Jim's oldest child.


Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton (CO)

A lifelong Coloradan, Jane Norton was sworn in as Colorado's 46th
Lieutenant Governor in January of 2003.˙ Prior to becoming the Lieutenant
Governor, Norton was the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), serving on the Governor's
Bioterrorism Advisory Committee, the Governor's Disaster Emergency Council,
and the Governor's Task Force on Victim Support for the Columbine High
School Tragedy.˙ As the Executive Director of CDPHE, she created the Office
of Suicide Prevention, with a special emphasis on teen suicide prevention.˙
She also served as regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services and was a Member of the Colorado House of Representatives.˙
Norton earned a Bachelor of Science Degree with Distinction in Health
Sciences from Colorado State University and a Master of Science Degree in
Management from Regis University in Denver.˙ Born and raised in Grand
Junction, she is married to Mike Norton, former U.S. Attorney of Colorado
and is the mother of two grown children.


Chiarasay Perkins, Student, WaltonSenior High School, (DeFuniak Springs,
FL)

Chiarasay Perkins is a student at Walton High School and President of Youth
Crime Watch of Walton County Florida, a local branch of a national
organization that empowers youth with the tools and self awareness to avoid
and prevent crime, violence, and drug abuse on their school campuses.


Dr. George Sugai, Professor, University of Connecticut, (Storrs, CT)

Dr. Sugai is a Neag Endowed Chair in Behavior Disorders and tenured
professor at the University of Connecticut.˙ He received his M.Ed. in 1974
and Ph.D. in 1980 at the University of Washington.˙ His primary areas of
interest include positive behavior support, teacher training, emotional and
behavioral disorders, social skills instruction, and strategies for
effective school-wide, classroom, and individual behavior management.˙ He
currently serves as co-director of the National Center on Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports, a center established by the U.S.
Department of Education to help schools implement effective school-wide
disciplinary practices.


Patrick Weil, Principal, ValparaisoHigh School, (Valparaiso, IN)

Pat Weil is the principal of Valparaiso High School.˙ In November 2004, a
15-year old student used two large knives to seriously injure seven of his
fellow students.˙ Mr. Weil has been involved in education as an
administrator and teacher for over 25 years, but had been Principal of
Valparaiso High School for just three weeks when the violent incident
occurred.



PANEL III: HELPING COMMUNITIES HEAL _

Moderator: Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education


Jamie Baggett, Teacher, StewartCounty High School, (Dover, TN)

Jamie Baggett has been a Special Education teacher at Stewart County High
School for almost five years.˙ In 2005, a 15-year-old student shot and
killed a Stewart County school bus driver who was an aide to Ms. Baggett.˙
She received her Bachelor's degree from Austin Peay University in
Clarksville, TN in 2001 and is currently working to complete her Master's
degree at the University of Tennessee in Martin.˙ Ms. Baggett currently
resides in Big Rock, TN.


Betty Alvarez Ham, Founder and President, City Impact, (Ventura, CA)

Betty Alvarez Ham is the Founder and President of City Impact, a
faith-based non-profit organization that operates on 56 public school
campuses in Ventura County working with at-risk children, youth, and
families.˙ She has spoken across the country about the importance of
involving the faith-based community to deter youth violence and her belief
in the power of compassion to fight against gangs, drugs, teen pregnancy,
racism, and delinquency.˙ Mrs. Alvarez Ham is an ordained minister as well
as an Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific University in the area of Urban
and Youth Ministry.˙ She graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 1985
and received her Masters of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary in
1988.˙ She lives in Ventura, CA, with her husband and daughter.


Dr. Larry Macaluso, Superintendent, RedLion School District, (Red Lion, PA)

Dr. Larry Macaluso has been the Superintendent of the Red Lion School
District in Red Lion, PA since 1990.˙ Prior to becoming Superintendent, he
served as the assistant Superintendent of the Red Lion Area School
District, and teacher and Principal in the Allentown City School District.˙
In 2001, Red Lion was the site of a machete attack at a local elementary
school, and in 2003, a student shot and killed a principal and himself at a
local junior high school.˙ The Red Lion School District is a grantee of
Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence), a U.S. Department of
Education program designed to provide immediate help to schools to recover
from a violent or traumatic event.˙


Cathy Paine, Special Programs Administrator, Springfield School District,
(Springfield, OR)

Cathy Paine is a Crisis Response Team leader for the Springfield School
District in Springfield, Oregon.˙ She helped develop the Springfield Crisis
Response Team in 1991 and directed the school district's response and
recovery efforts following a local fatal shooting at Thurston High School
in 1998 that was the nation's most deadly school shooting prior to
Columbine.˙ Cathy has responded to over 40 crises in the Springfield area
and served as a consultant to other communities that have experienced
school violence, including Littleton, CO, San Diego, CA, and Cold Spring,
MN.˙ Cathy received her undergraduate teaching degree from St. Cloud State
University in Minnesota, and a Master's degree in Psychology from Drake
University in Iowa.˙ In her 30-year career in education, Cathy has also
worked as a middle school English teacher, school psychologist, and crisis
team trainer.˙ She is married with two children.


Craig Scott, Former Student, ColumbineHigh School, (Aurora, CO)

Craig Scott is the brother of Rachel Joy Scott, one of the ten students
killed at Columbine High School. Only 16-years-old at the time, Craig was
hiding under a table in the library when his friend was shot to death right
beside him. To honor his sister's legacy, Craig travels around the country
to share his story of healing and forgiveness, and started, with his
father, Rachel's Challenge, a program that challenges students to be more
compassionate. He has been interviewed on a number of programs such as the
Today Show, Oprah, Dateline, Good Morning America, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, the
John Walsh Show, and many others. He is currently a film school student at
the University of Colorado.


Dr. Marleen Wong, Director of Crisis Counseling and Intervention Services,
Los Angeles Unified School District and Director of the
TraumaServicesAdaptation Center for Schools and Communities, (Los Angeles,
CA)

One of the country's pre-eminent experts on school safety programs, Dr.
Wong was one of the original developers of the Cognitive Behavioral
Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), an early intervention program
for children traumatized by exposure to school and community violence.˙ She
travels the country to support school districts with trauma recovery after
school shootings, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism.˙ She has been
called on by the government to train educators and school mental health
professionals in school crisis interventions and to be a member of National
Crisis Teams convened to help schools develop recovery programs after
school shootings, including those at Thurston High School, Columbine High
School, Santana High School, and Red Lake Minnesota.˙ In addition, Dr. Wong
has edited and co-authored three school safety books for the Jane's
Information Group and drafted the Mental Health Intervention and Crisis
Recovery curriculum for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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