MEDIA RELEASE
Brooksville - Hernando School District's Office of Safe Schools invites members of the media and the general public to attend special sessions of its annual Safety Summit. This year, two nationally recognized and highly sought after, experts in school safety will keynote two sessions. Max Schachter, whose son was killed in Parkland, is a national school safety advocate whose work has taken him to the highest levels of legislative leadership including the Whitehouse. Paul Timm is a board certified Physical Security Professional with expertise in assessing security vulnerabilities. Timm was named One of the Most Influential People In Security in 2020.
HCSD's Safety Summit is a week long conference for school and district leaders to hear and learn from school safety professionals, strengthen relationships with local emergency responders and collaborate with their school's safety teams to refine campus safety practices and elevate emergency protocols.
"The Safety Summit has been instrumental in helping our school leaders receive vital training in the most effective practices in school safety," said Jill Renihan, Director of Safe Schools for HCSD. "We schedule the Safety Summit after students leave for the summer. It's vital to afford administrators time to focus fully on adopting new practices or refining current safety routines without the distraction of operating their busy schools."
The Safety Summit will be held at Cross Point Church
2440 Anderson Snow Rd, Spring Hill, FL 34609
Due to the confidential nature of much of the information shared in the Safety Summit, with the exception of the two open sessions listed below, the remainder of the Safety Summit is closed to the public.
Parkland: From Tragedy to Advocacy - Max Schachter
Monday, June 5th, 8:30- 10 AM
School Safety Situational Awareness - Paul Timm
Thursday, June 8th, 8:15 - 10 AM
Information about each speaker is continued below.
Parkland: From Tragedy to Advocacy - Max Schachter
Monday, June 5th, 8:30- 10 AM
Max Schachter is a national school safety advocate. His son Alex is one of the 17 victims murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Max is the founder and executive director of Safe Schools for Alex 501(c)(3). Their mission is to provide most current school safety best practices and resources to students, parents, school districts and law enforcement so that all children can learn in a safe environment.
Since that heartbreaking day, Max has been advocating for policy change at the highest levels of the United States government. He has worked alongside members of congress, leaders of all major federal agencies, and Presidents of the United States to make schools safer. Max has testified as a subject matter expert before the United States House and Senate and multiple state legislatures. In August 2018 he advocated for the creation of a federal agency to house national school safety best practices.
Max has been interviewed by many local and national media outlets including CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Dr. Phil. He has given keynote presentations to many school districts, law enforcement organizations, and local, state, and federal agencies detailing the lessons learned and best practices developed in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting along with his journey from anguish to advocacy.
School Safety Situational Awareness - Paul Timm
Thursday, June 8th, 8:15 - 10 AM
Paul Timm, Director of Education Safety at Allegion, is a board-certified Physical Security Professional (PSP) and the author of “School Security: How to Build and Strengthen a School Safety Program.” He was named one of the Most Influential People in Security in 2020 by Security Magazine. In addition to conducting numerous vulnerability assessments and his frequent keynote addresses, Paul is an experienced School Crisis Assistance Team volunteer through the National Organization for Victims Assistance (NOVA).
He serves on the Campus Safety Conferences Advisory Board, the Advisory Council for the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, the ASIS International School Safety and Security Council, and the Illinois Association of School Business Officials Risk Management Committee. He is certified in Vulnerability Assessment Methodology (VAM) through Sandia National Laboratories and the ALPHA vulnerability assessment methodology. Paul holds a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from Moody Theological Seminary.