Hybrid Conference – Threat Assessment Teams: Best Practices in School Safety – Dec. 9, 2025

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

TBD

To receive PDPs, participants must attend this conference and the conference, School Safety: 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

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. 

  

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 8^th 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.