The 2021 International School Safety Institute (ISSI) Symposium will be held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV. November 14-16, 2021. This is one of the first in-person school safety conferences to be held in the U.S. as we move out of the COVID-19 Pandemic response. The symposium has been held in San Diego County since 2014. We moved to Reno this year to make travel easier for our Nevada public, private, and charter school attendees who may have out of state travel restrictions due to COVID. Based on the work we do with school safety and emergency management with Nevada schools and the cooperative relationship we have with the Nevada Department of Education, a large portion of our attendees for the 2021 conference will be from Nevada.

Presentations at this conference will be geared toward COVID related school safety and safe school culture and climate issues as me move toward a return to normalcy from the Pandemic response mode in schools. Subject Matter Experts will present on topics related to Digital and Behavioral Threat Assessment focused on early identification of and intervention into at-risk student behavior that could lead to suicidal ideation or homicidal acts. Additional presentations will cover school emergency response planning and training, current drug trends affecting schools, ten suicide and addiction, education leadership during crisis, current events in school safety, and a musical presentation on Stress Management performed by the Tahoe based band the Scarlet Verbs. A conference highlight will be a presentation from Carley Posey of the I Love You Guys Foundation based on her experiences as a parent of children who were in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT. the day of the school killings on December 14, 2012.

The NV. Dept. of Education will be presenting a 4-hour block of training during the Nevada Track pre-conference workshop on Sunday November 14, 2021. There will be additional presentations provided to attendees that day covering the state’s Red Flag laws and liability issues. Presentations on these topics will be provided by the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool (POOL PACT).

ISSI reviews school safety projects completed by attendees yearly and presents awards based on those reviews. The awards are called the “GATEKEEPER Awards” and winners are presented with a plaque that can be displayed at their school or district office. For this year’s conference, all award recipients are from the state of Nevada. This shows the forward momentum of school safety projects in the state. Award recipients at the 2021 conference are:

1. Lincoln County NV. School District: 2020 GATEKEEPER School District Award.

2. Humboldt County NV. School District: 2021 GATEKEEPER School District Award.

3. Cherry Florence, Lincoln County School District: 2021 GATEKEEPER Individual Achievement Award.

4. NV. Public Agency Insurance Pool (POOL PACT): 2021 GATEKEEPER School Safety Support Award

Attendees to this conference are school administrators, school safety professionals, members of school district development and safety committees, school counselors and mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals who deal with school safety, and parents who are interested in safe school culture and climate.

Parental involvement in school safety is essential, and parents are encouraged to attend our conferences. Much of the information presented at our conferences can be used by parents to assist their children with social-emotional problems they may be experiencing at home and outside of school. This is especially true with the presentations on Digital Threat Assessment and social media monitoring. Teen suicide, addiction, and depression have risen at alarming rates since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Prevention and intervention strategies into these areas are a focus at our conference, and parents will gain useful information.

Members of the media are welcome to attend any or all presentations at the 2021 International School Safety Institute conference. There are no secrets when it comes to school safety, and all presenters will be available for interview upon request. There will also be a trade show where conference sponsors will be displaying products that can assist with school safety.

Full conference information can be found at www.InternatoinalSchoolSafety.org.