December 9, 2025 @ 8:45 am – 2:30 pm
Registration: 8:15 – 8:45 am
Conference: 8:45 am – 2:30 pm
Attend In Person or Via Zoom
Minuteman High School
758 Marrett Rd.
Lexington, MA 02421
To receive PDPs, participants must attend this conference and the conference, Challenges and Solutions in School Safety and Security, on November 18, 2025. Members can participate in-person, virtually or by viewing the recording.
SpeakerS
Description
Creating and maintaining a safe school environment requires identifying warning signs, evaluating threatening situations and taking appropriate action to reduce the risk of violence. This hybrid conference will share practical strategies for school threat assessment teams. Dr. Dewey Cornell, Forensic Clinical Psychologist and Director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project, and developer of the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guideline (CSTAG), a framework designed to help schools identify, assess, and support students who may be struggling, will present how CSTAG can be used effectively in day-to-day school settings. Participants will also hear from FBI agents and a former prosecutor about recognizing warning signs and building strong school–law enforcement partnerships.
About the Speakers
On July 1, 2025, Pedro Martinez, M.Ed., (he/him) became the 25th commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, he moved to Chicago at the age of five and credits education with changing the course of his life. The oldest of 12 children, he was the first in his family to graduate from high school and college, later returning to Chicago Public Schools as chief financial officer (2003–2009) and CEO (2021–2025).
Mr. Martinez has more than two decades of leadership experience, including 12 years as a superintendent. During his tenure in Chicago, the district expanded early childhood programs, saw strong post-pandemic reading gains, and set records in graduation rates, scholarships earned, and college credits completed in high school. Previously, he served as superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District, recognized as the fastest-improving large district in Texas, and as superintendent in Washoe County, Nevada.
A data-driven leader with deep expertise in academic reform, Mr. Martinez believes that with high expectations and strong supports, all students can thrive. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from DePaul University and is the first Latino to serve as DESE commissioner. He and his wife are the proud parents of two children.
Dewey Cornell, Ph.D., (he/him) is the Virgil Ward Professor of Education in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Dr. Cornell became interested in the prevention of youth violence in the 1980s when he worked as a forensic clinical psychologist evaluating and treating violent offenders. After contributing to the FBI study of school shootings in 1999, he led the development of school threat assessment guidelines in Virginia, now called the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG). Over the past 25 years, he has conducted a series of studies on the safety, effectiveness, and fairness of school threat assessment, and has helped disseminate the CSTAG model nationwide. Dr. Cornell has authored more than 250 publications in psychology and education, including studies of behavioral threat assessment and violence prevention, school climate and safety, bullying, and juvenile homicide.
Ted E. Docks serves as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI Boston Division, overseeing operations across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. He previously led the Criminal Division at the Los Angeles Field Office and has held numerous leadership, operational, and investigative roles since joining the FBI in 2005. His assignments have included counterintelligence work in Louisville, leading the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Michigan, and serving as Supervisory Special Agent in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate at FBI Headquarters, where he earned the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal.
Mr. Docks has also served as Supervisory Senior Resident Agent in Michigan, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Field Office, and inspector in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters. Before joining the Bureau, he worked in finance and sales and earned both a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in finance and accounting from Morehead State University, where he was also a basketball student-athlete.
Apart from being a partner of Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting, Daniel Bennett (he/him) serves as the CEO of Liberty Forensics. Liberty Forensics provides expertise in DNA investigations and testing. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security under Governor Baker, overseeing 10,000 employees across more than a dozen agencies, including the Massachusetts State Police, Department of Corrections, Parole Board, Sex Offender Registry Board, and Fire Marshal’s Office. Prior to that, he was First Assistant District Attorney in Worcester County, where he tried approximately 30 murder cases, supervised over 100 employees, and was named Prosecutor of the Year in 2013.
Earlier in his career, Bennett served as Senior Trial Attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, where he handled high-profile cases and worked on the Community Based Justice Program, fostering collaboration between law enforcement, schools, and social services. Before entering public service, he practiced as a defense attorney and named partner at Torney, Mahoney, Diamond & Bennett, advocating zealously for his clients. Bennett holds degrees from Harvard University and Suffolk University Law School and is a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for determination and desire as a member of the Harvard Football team.
Brian LeBlanc (he/him) is Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Boston, assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in the Boston Division, with a prior assignment to the JTTF in Miami, Florida. Since joining the FBI in 2007, SA LeBlanc has specialized in complex counterterrorism investigations, as well as in the mitigation of terrorism threats as a WMD specialist and bomb technician. SA LeBlanc has led counterterrorism investigations domestically and internationally throughout South America, the Caribbean and Africa. SA LeBlanc has also served as the FBI counterterrorism specialist assigned to U.S. Special Operations Command (SOC) in Afghanistan as well as a long-term assignment to the FBI Legal Attaché Office at the U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining the FBI, SA LeBlanc served seven years as a municipal police officer and six years in the U.S. Marine Corps. SA LeBlanc holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts and a Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.
Scott Nix (he/him) has lived in Sudbury for the majority of his life with his father beginning a career with the Sudbury Police Department in 1968. In continuing tradition, he began his career with the Sudbury Police Department as a dispatcher in November of 1993. He was fortunate to be appointed as a Patrolman in April of 1996, Detective in October of 2001, Sergeant in August of 2002 and Detective Lieutenant in September of 2004 and the 8th Chief of Police on July 11, 2013, where it is his honor to lead the Sudbury Police Department personnel and serve the residents of Sudbury. He has a Masters in Criminal Justice Administration from Western New England College where he also received a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement. He has also been honored to serve as one of the Control Chiefs for the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council RRT/SWAT Unit since 2019.
Membership Information
Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.
PDPs and CEUs
MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.
To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must pass the quiz. The PDP quiz will be made available only to participants who have registered for and attended both conferences.
Event Cancellation Policy
If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.
For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.
Registration: 8:15 – 8:45 am
Conference: 8:45 am – 2:30 pm