LPS, Region V partner for vital school safety training

Lincoln Public Schools partnered with Region V Services on Thursday to offer training to more than 40 school resource officers, law enforcement officers and mental health professionals on how to identify concerning student behaviors and risk factors, assess the risk level, and develop and implement plans to reduce the risk of those students harming themselves or others.

LPS Director of Security Joe Wright said the goal of this youth Behavioral Threat Assessment training, held at Southeast Community College, was to pull together as many educational resources as possible to assist the school district’s law enforcement and community partners.

“We all share the same goal, and that’s to keep our schools safe,” Wright said. “Training like this offers us a chance to bring experts and resources together in one place to talk about ways we can ensure that our schools remain safe.”

Thursday’s training offered a variety of speakers addressing a wide range of topics:

• “Crisis Response After a Suicide” - Brenda Leggiadro, counseling and school social work supervisor for LPS, and Ursula Vernon-Hansen, LPS school social worker
• “Behavior or Not? How We Know and What We Can Do About It” - Therese Mathews, University of Nebraska Medical Center associate professor and expert on adolescent psychiatric mental health, and Whitney Strong-Bak, University of Nebraska Medical Center assistant professor with an expertise in pediatric psychology
• “Youth Medication Misuse” - Ally Dering-Anderson, clinical associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy
• “Threat Assessment Schools: Best Practices,” Joe Wright, LPS director of security
• Threat Management in Schools - Safety Planning 101” - Jon Sundermeier, LPS security coordinator
• “Youth Resources” - a panel discussion with Kasey Moyer, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Nebraska; Gabby Danner, LPS school social worker; Arnold Remington, Targeted Adult Service Coordination (TASC) program director for Lutheran Family Services; Terri Marti, Lincoln Lancaster County Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) team coordinator; and Sandy Thompson, foster care specialist at KVC Behavioral Healthcare

You can read more about how LPS works to keep our schools safe through threat assessment at the LPS Security webpage.

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