Kentucky School Boards Association
Across the Board: Service, Support & Success
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13th Annual Safe Schools, Successful Students Conference
Whether it’s cyberbullying, drugs, shootings, drinking, or a natural disaster, school safety aff ects an entire community. Because of that, it’s imperative to understand and recognize the role community agencies have in helping schools improve school safety.
Opening Session--Oct. 1, 9-10:15 a.m.
9:00AM - 10:15AMTeaching Outside the Box
LouAnne Johnson shares the strategies and philosophy that have enabled her to successfully motivate students from many diff erent backgrounds, including elementary non-readers, at-risk teens, college undergraduates, ESL students and developmental-level adult learners. Johnson, a former teacher and author of the bestseller, Dangerous Minds, which was made into a movie, shares the findings of her recent research into the connection between nutrition and behavior, and the effects of essential fatty acids on brain function, along with her own methods for turning reluctant readers into eager readers. You will be delighted to hear an update about the current status of the students who were portrayed in the movie.

Monday morning sessions, 10:30 a.m. – noon (sessions are EILA approved)
10:30AM - 12:00PM1. Response to Active School Shooting
This session is designed to help school and law enforcement personnel access and improve their response plans to an emergency situation such as a school shooting. We will suggest ways to coordinate training sessions and ideas to consider when setting up and practicing lock-down procedures.
10:30AM - 12:00PM2. Standing by: Joining the Classroom Community to Prevent Bullying
(Repeated, session 17)
This session will explore strategies and practical methods for creating and maintaining a safe and supportive classroom community. It will emphasize eff ective communication, student engagement, de-escalation and crisis intervention, behavior management of challenging students, and bystander behavior in the bullying dynamic. The interactive CD-ROM developed by youth in New York state, Please Stand Up, will be used to illustrate bystander responses in a bullying situation.
10:30AM - 12:00PM3. My Story: My Challenges and Successes with My Mental Illness
(Repeated, session 28)
Carmilla Ratliff is a graduate of Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children, Inc. (KPFC) statewide Youth Council. She is now an employee of KPFC and dedicates her life to making a diff erence for other youth by training on advocacy, sharing her voice, and teaching others about mental health disabilities. She will share the challenges and successes of her disability with workshop participants, and the do’s and don’ts for teachers, mental health professionals, and family members.
10:30AM - 12:00PM4. Kentucky Truancy Diversion Program
Through collaboration with the Department of Education, the Court of Justice is providing the Truancy Diversion Program to help overcome problems with truancy and educational neglect. Th e program uses a team approach to bring together judges, social workers, school personnel, parents, and students to address truancy in a positive environment that praises individual milestones, while ensuring accountability and academic achievement.
10:30AM - 12:00PM5. Positive Climate on the Bus Route
(Repeated, session 20)
This session will provide communication strategies to improve climate and safety on bus routes. Anderson County Schools focus on training bus drivers and monitors about the importance of communication with students, parents, and school employees. Open lines of communication with the schools and the bus drivers have improved behavior and signifi cantly decreased incidents of misbehavior.
10:30AM - 12:00PM6. Key Elements to a Successful Alternative School
Why do our students prefer alternative school? This session features insights from faculty, staff , and students of one of the most successful alternative programs across Kentucky. Opportunities Unlimited promotes six themes to success: welcoming learning environment, role of support personnel, advisory program, student-centered classrooms, gender equity, and safety. It is through these themes that staff and students are molded into one unique entity.
10:30AM - 12:00PM7. Stranger Safety Tips for Our Students
The Safe Side introduces an innovative approach to teaching stranger safety. Co-founded by John Walsh, the program focus is on the elementary student. Jefferson County Schools officials discuss the results of their pilot programs for K-3.
10:30AM - 12:00PM8. No Pass, No Drive
Commonly known as the “No Pass, No Drive” legislation, KRS 159.051 states if a student drops out of school, or is declared academically defi cient, his/her license is revoked. Information will be provided about the role of educators in this legislation. Additionally, participants will be shown the portal on the Transportation Cabinet’s Web site to be used in revoking or denying driver’s licenses for students.
10:30AM - 12:00PM9. Why is this kid…A) Asleep B) Belligerent C) Absent D) Indifferent....in my class?
Youth with substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders present many challenges to schools and individual classrooms. One challenge is understanding the context if the behavioral issues are symptoms of these problems. Confusion about how to address these issues in the school is a complex issue. This session will provide an overview as well as specific information about the scope of these problems, related symptoms, and identifi cation of these students, along with referral options, eff ective strategies, and examples of eff ective evidence-based screening tools in a school setting.
10:30AM - 12:00PM10. “Self-Injury- The Next Teen Disorder
Orientation to session 23
What do you do after learning that a student engages in self-injury? School personnel are encountering self-injury (SI) with increasing frequency and most are not prepared to deal with it. Participants will obtain a conceptual framework to guide an initial assessment interview and design school response procedures. Accurate assessment of self-injury helps in designing timely and eff ective interventions and to respond sensitively to individuals who self-injure.
10:30AM - 12:00PM11. Bridge over Troubled Waters
Many of our youth today are living with diffi cult situations. As professionals and caregivers we carry around our own frustration at not being able to fi x their worlds or heal their wounds. Th ere is much that we can’t change, but what we CAN DO is help youth tap into their personal vision of resilience. No matter what the problem — victimization, family, abuse, or substances — this workshop offers hope through understanding resiliency theory and research.
10:30AM - 12:00PM12. Internet Safety Issues Facing KY School Districts
Learn how to be proactive in protecting and educating students, staff and parents. The presentation will include an opportunity for roundtable discussion of how participants are addressing issues and we will attempt to address concerns presented by participants.
10:30AM - 12:00PM13. Is Positive Behavior Right for Your School?
The Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline (KYCID) has trained over 150 schools across the Commonwealth in the Positive Behavior Support process. PBS features teaching and acknowledging behavior expectations, using the leadership team to guide the process, developing a system that effectively reduces problem behavior and using data to make decisions. Th is presentation will discuss preliminary findings from the KYCID by the Human Development Institute, University of Kentucky. Presenters will discuss the relationship between adopting and implementing school-wide behavioral programs and the outcomes.

Luncheon Session, noon - 1:45 p.m.
12:00PM - 1:45PMIn Tune With The Possible
Creating A Safe, Secure, and Successful Future For Kentucky’s Children And Youth

In this informative, innovative, and inspiring presentation, Harry Pickens explores how together we can create a better future for our children and youth. Discover how communities worldwide are addressing the root causes of violence and low achievement. Learn about cutting-edge research in cognitive and social neuroscience that offers new hope for positive change. Explore success stories from schools, organizations, and communities working together in new ways to solve tough problems and craft innovative solutions.

Monday afternoon sessions, 2 – 3:30 p.m. (sessions are EILA approved)
2:00PM - 3:30PM14. I’m going to KILL You! Are they serious?
Violence is a reality experienced by over 21 communities in the past 11 years. It is clear that schools are now, more than ever, charged with the responsibility of a proactive approach to addressing the possibility of a violent act. Risk Assessments are a proactive way to combat school violence. Th is presentation will describe the process and procedures utilized in Scott County and will introduce data collected over a six-year-span, highlighting trends.
2:00PM - 3:30PM15. Standing by: Joining the Classroom Community to Prevent Bullying
(Repeat of session 2)
This session will explore strategies and practical methods for creating and maintaining a safe and supportive classroom community. It will emphasize eff ective communication, student engagement, de-escalation and crisis intervention, behavior management of challenging students, and bystander behavior in the bullying dynamic. The interactive CD-ROM developed by youth in New York state, Please Stand Up, will be used to illustrate bystander responses in a bullying situation.
2:00PM - 3:30PM16. Above and Beyond
Ready to reduce dropout rates? Ready to think differently about alternative school models? Learn how Graves County is reaching the entire Purchase Region of Kentucky to give students an attractive means to earning a high school diploma or GED. Th is presentation highlights various practices used to re-engage students’ desire to learn and to dream big. The focus is on prevention and intervention practices, including performance-based curriculum and assessment for credit, secondary GED, credit recovery and freshman mentoring.
2:00PM - 3:30PM17. Student Drug Testing Case Law/Policy Update
The current state of the law does not give a “blank check” for all forms of student drug testing. In this session, a KSBA staff attorney will review and update important cases and their ramifi cations regarding the development of drug testing policies.
2:00PM - 3:30PM18. Effective Strategies for Supervising Students in Common Areas
Have you ever driven slower on certain highways because you know an offi cer is nearby? Th at is because of eff ective supervision. Just standing in the hall is not enough. Just walking around the cafeteria is not enough. Learn what you can do to make a real difference in supervision. Major components of effective supervision include building the relationship between students and adults and learning to respond consistently.
2:00PM - 3:30PM19. Free online PD offered to Kentucky Educators for Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence & Child Abuse
KDE now offers a free, interactive online PD course addressing awareness and intervention strategies dealing with sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse situations. Th is is the fi rst online course of its kind concerning these issues for educators and adults who work with students. Th e session will provide an overview of the course and a demonstration of what educators need to understand about their basic rights and responsibilities under the law while making appropriate interventions with children who may be in at-risk situations.
2:00PM - 3:30PM20. Positive Climate on the Bus Route
(Repeat of session 5)
This session will provide communication strategies to improve climate and safety on bus routes. Anderson County Schools focus on training bus drivers and monitors about the importance of communication with students, parents, and school employees. Open lines of communication with the schools and the bus drivers have improved behavior and signifi cantly decreased incidents of misbehavior.
2:00PM - 3:30PM21. Youth Crime Watch Kentucky
In the Youth Crime Watch program, students take responsibility for the school, making sure that school staff is aware of problems before they happen. Youth Crime Watch has nine components from youth patrols and bus safety to mentoring and conflict resolution training.
2:00PM - 3:30PM22. Achievement, Attendance and Attitude — An Alternative School That Works
The Boone County Alternative Center for Education (ACE) program is the optimum teaching/learning environment for all students. Th e mission of ACE is to provide a computerized nontraditional instructional setting, which provides opportunities to enhance learning and positive social/school behaviors. The program has an 85 percent success rate, 94 percent attendance and all students advance at least one academic year. Th is safety net program involves staff , parents, and community involvement.
2:00PM - 3:30PM23. How Should Schools Respond to Self-Injury?
Self-injury has become more prevalent in school populations and has recently been labeled “the next teen disorder.” School personnel need to have accurate understanding of self-injuries to respond appropriately and sensitively. An overview of self-injurious behaviors with a special focus on adolescent self-injury, or cutting, will be provided. Topics will include the classifi cation of self-injurious behaviors along with the associated features, contextual features (media and peer group influences, contagion), and functions or selfinjury in adolescents.

Reception
3:30PM - 4:30PMExhibitor Reception
3:30-4:30 pm
Relax, spend time with colleagues and have a good time.

Tuesday Morning Keynote, Oct. 2, 9 - 10:15 a.m.
9:00AM - 10:15AMPreventing School Shootings: It Takes a Team
This session outlines how schools, law enforcement, mental health professionals, and other community members can prevent school shootings through collaboration. Dr. Marisa Randazzo, co-author of the landmark federal study of school shootings conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Secret Service, will review key findings on American school shootings and implications for prevention. The session will emphasize how partnership among educators, law enforcement officials, mental health professionals and others is criticalfor assessing threats and creating safe school climates.

Tuesday morning sessions, 10:30 a.m. – noon (sessions EILA approved)
10:30AM - 12:00PM24. 10 Myths About School Shootings
This session will cover common myths and misconceptions about school shootings. Using the Virginia Tech University school shooting and other recent examples, the presenter, who is co-author of the landmark federal study of school shootings conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Secret Service, will separate fact from fiction with respect to American school shootings. The goal of the session is twofold: to eradicate inaccurate information about school shootings and to provide facts about them in order to lay a foundation for school- and district-wide prevention efforts.
10:30AM - 12:00PM25. Cyberbullying: Identification and Implication for Schools
This session will help teachers and administrators to identify students who are in danger of becoming victims of cyberbullying, those likely to become cyberbullies, and those who are already victims or cyberbullies. The audience will be taught about the ways students are bullying each other through electronic devices and how to deal with this problem behavior. A post-conference session will provide a more in-depth look at this issue that Kentucky schools are facing.
10:30AM - 12:00PM26. Risk Assessment- Fire, Safety, and Disaster Preparedness
This presentation reviews a proactive approach to identify issues and potential risks in the areas of fire hazards, emergency and disaster preparedness planning, occupational safety and health standards, and related areas to inform school personnel of the risks and requirements in each of these important areas. Additionally, guidance regarding the specific requirements and standards for each of these areas will be discussed. Resources, tools, guidance, and suggestions will be presented through which school personnel can work with students and emergency management personnel to create and maintain a safe and risk-free school environment.
10:30AM - 12:00PM27. Drug use in the Classroom
Learn to identify and recognize students who are under the infl uence of drugs, including prescription drugs and illegal drugs such as cocaine and marijuana.
10:30AM - 12:00PM28. Key IDEA Changes in Special Education Discipline
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the dramatic changes in special education discipline procedures brought about by IDEA 2004. Kentucky’s adoption of these new standards into our new regulations will increase the latitude of school administrators and ARC teams in dealing with safety and discipline. Discussion will cover the new manifestation determination requirements, changes in the timing of the functional behavioral assessment, and what now constitutes a change in placement for disciplinary purposes. Information will be provided about new latitude for administrators in dealing with drug, weapon and serious bodily injury incidents.
10:30AM - 12:00PM29. My Story: My challenges and successes with my Mental Illness
(Repeat of session 3)
Carmilla Ratliff is a graduate of Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children, Inc. (KPFC) statewide Youth Council. She is now an employee of KPFC and dedicates her life to making a difference for other youth by training on advocacy, sharing her voice, and teaching others about mental health disabilities. She will share the challenges and successes of her disability with workshop participants, and the do’s and don’ts for teachers, mental health professionals, and family members.
10:30AM - 12:00PM30. Using Data to Make Effective Decisions Regarding Student Behavior
Schools are very skilled at data collection, analysis and utilization for academic purposes. Why are we so unlikely to take the same approach for discipline? One reason is no one expects us to do so and no one gives us the tools to do so. The time has come to generalize what we have learned in academics and apply it to discipline. This session will offer strategies to support data-based decision making.
10:30AM - 12:00PM31. The Roles of Schools in Suicide Prevention
Did you know more students die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease COMBINED? In Kentucky suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15-to-19- year-olds. In the typical classroom at least five students have attempted suicide within the last year. What schools, parents,and communities can do to save a life.
10:30AM - 12:00PM32. Kentucky Core Content: Bringing it All Together
The Kentucky Core Content 4.1 and DJJ Work Adjustment Model with GED is a curriculum delivery system designed for teachers, counselors, youth workers, administrators who work with middle and high school students. This session will teach attendees how to use existing documents to promote academic and behavioral success, provide current information/trends that affect Kentucky schools and promote research-based strategies to increase academic achievement for all students.

Post-conference session, 1 - 4:30 p.m.
1:00PM - 4:30PMCyberbullying
This session is a follow-up to session 25 and will go into more detail regarding the developmental issues that feed into cyberbullying. Issues such as school connectedness and identity formation will be integrated into possible prevention and intervention efforts for schools to implement. Audience members will become better informed regarding cyberbullying and ways for schools to react to the issue.
1:00PM - 4:30PMTitle IV and Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinators
All pre-registered participants will receive lunch prior to the training.

All State Title IV and Drug Free Schools Coordinators are invited to attend this networking opportunity to hear the latest information from the federal and state levels, share resources, and learn about starting a Title IV Coordinator Network in your area.