The Violence Prevention and Transformation Research Collaborative Events

School Threat Assessment and Restorative Practices: Connections to Improve School Safety

Date: January 24, 2025

Time: 9:00am - 3:30pm

Place: MLG 110, University of Washington Tacoma

Details

This in-person event will serve as a training for practitioners doing work in schools such as threat assessment, school safety, and restorative practices. It will feature leading experts and practitioners and feature real-world case studies as well as emergent research and approaches to better integrate practices of threat assessment and restorative justice.

It will also be open to the entire UW community and the larger public. This event is free for attendees. Morning refreshments and a light lunch will be provided.

Featuring:

• John Van Dreal, school psychologist with over 35 years of experience in threat assessment and management, behavioral intervention, and school security
• Courtenay McCarthy, lead school psychologist in student preventive behavioral threat assessment and management for Salem-Keizer Public Schools
• Kirsten Rue, Superintendent of the Griffin School District in the South Puget Sound
• Kimberly Tennant, Assistant Principal of North Thurston High School
• Dr. Eric Madfis, Professor and Director of the Violence Prevention and Transformation Research Collaborative in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma

Featured Speakers

John Van Dreal

John Van Dreal is a school psychologist with over 35 years of experience in threat assessment and management, behavioral intervention, and school security. In 1999, he began the development of the Salem-Keizer Model, a multi-agency student threat assessment system considered by experts to be a leading practice. He is the principal author of the book Assessing Student Threats: Implementing The Salem-Keizer System, Second Edition and a co-author of Preventing Youth Violence: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection (authored with Courtenay McCarthy and Coleen Van Dreal). He regularly provides training and consultation to audiences nationally on preventive behavioral threat assessment.

Kirsten Rue

Kirsten Rue is the superintendent of the Griffin School District in the South Puget Sound. She previously served as the Director of Student Achievement for the North Thurston Public Schools, where she led a district-wide initiative focused on Restorative Practices that included the implementation of Restorative Justice Centers at all four of the district’s high schools. She has trained adults and students of all ages to become practitioners of restorative practices. As part of her role as the Director of Student Achievement, she also oversaw the district’s threat assessment processes. Out of an interest in exploring the intersection between threat assessment and restorative practices, Ms. Rue has worked with school leaders to approach threat assessment as an inclusionary process. She is committed to creating caring school climates based on respect, responsibility, and repair of harm.

Dr. Eric Madfis

Dr. Eric Madfis is Professor and Director of the Violence Prevention and Transformation Research Collaborative in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma. His research on the causes and prevention of school violence and mass shootings has been published in academic journals across a range of disciplines and featured in national and international media outlets. Dr. Madfis has spoken to audiences across the country and around the world about his scholarship, including to the United States Congress and the Washington State Legislature. His books include How to Stop School Rampage Killing: Lessons from Averted Mass Shootings and Bombings and All-American Massacre: The Tragic Role of American Culture and Society in Mass Shootings.