National School Safety and Security Summit

Dec. 3 - 5, 2026 | Phoenix, Arizona

The National School Safety and Security Summit equips educators and school resource officers with the tools to address emerging digital and physical threats impacting schools. This focused event explores how artificial intelligence, social media, weapons detection technology, and evolving extremist recruitment tactics are shaping student safety and what school-based teams can do about it.

Through practical, real-world sessions, participants will learn how to identify concerning online behavior, respond to AI-generated threats, leverage weapons detection systems, and understand how domestic and international actors are increasingly targeting youth for recruitment.

Key Topics

Artificial Intelligence and emerging school safety risks
Weapons detection systems: capabilities, limitations, and implementation
Social media threats, hoaxes, and student online safety
Extremist recruitment of youth: domestic and international trends
Digital intelligence and pre-incident indicators
Behavioral Threat Assessment in the online environment
Tactical active assailant response considerations for school-based teams

Who Should Attend

School Resource Officers, administrators, educators, safety teams, counselors, and law enforcement professionals working in school environments.

Understand the threats. Strengthen prevention. Improve response. Protect students.

Summit Registration Rate:

EARLY BIRD Summit Registration Rate

Early Bird registration is only $500 and includes a one-year NASRO membership. To take advantage of this outstanding value, you must register and pay by September 15, 2026. Meals are not provided.

REGULAR Summit Registration Rate

Regular summit registration is $550. You may register at this rate from September 16 - December 2, 2026. Meals are not provided.

Hotel Information:

Sheraton Phoenix Downtown

340 N 3rd St. Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Hotel Reservations:

The hotel rate is only $219/night (plus taxes) per night. Attendees will not pay a resort fee and will receive 50% off the daily parking rate of $34.08/day. A 50% discount on published self-parking pricing will be given to NASRO attendees, and is based on availability in the hotel garage. Marriott Bonvoy members will have complimentary access to standard Internet within their guest rooms. Attendees will also receive a 10% discount on published food and beverage pricing.

Sheraton Phoenix Downtown offers modern rooms, an interactive lobby, upscale dining, a rooftop pool, and a fitness center – just steps from the 200+ restaurants and entertainment options in downtown Phoenix. NASRO's discounted rate is available until Thursday, November 12, 2026, or until the NASRO block is filled. Reservations can be made by clicking HERE.

Notice to NASRO Attendees: We understand that there are companies claiming to have some relationship with NASRO and offering discounted hotel rates. Rest assured that these companies have no such relationship whatsoever with NASRO. These companies may not have a block of rooms but merely resell rooms they have secured from another source; rooms may require full prepayment, are non-refundable, and may be subject to steep change fees; and room types may not be guaranteed.

Reservations should only be made directly with the hotel.

Cancellations:

Cancellation requests must be emailed to [email protected]. Make the subject line of your email CANCEL SUMMIT. If the registration fee has already been paid, a refund will be issued. Cancellations made on or after Nov. 19, 2026, or no-shows to the Summit, will forfeit all registration fees.

NASRO reserves the right to cancel or reschedule training. If NASRO cancels or reschedules training due to weather or unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of NASRO, you are entitled to a full refund. NASRO is not responsible for travel arrangements, travel fees, or any expenses incurred by you as a result of such cancellations. If NASRO cancels a training in which you are enrolled, you will be contacted at the email address you provided when registering, so please be sure to provide a valid email address.

Speakers:

Dr. Lina Alathari, Chief, U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) - Dr. Alathari is the Chief of the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC), where she oversees the center’s targeted violence behavioral research program. The findings from these projects have identified behaviors, motives, and triggers of individuals who engage in various forms of targeted violence to include school violence, workplace violence, terrorism, attacks against government officials and facilities, and mass attacks in public spaces.

Dr. Alathari also oversees NTAC’s training and consultation programs. She has testified before congress, frequently presents on threat assessment, and provides guidance to government agencies, K-12 schools, universities, and corporations on threat cases and establishing threat assessment programs.

Dr. Alathari was named a 2020 Safety, Security and International Affairs Finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals and was the recipient of the 2019 Secret Service Director’s Team Impact Award, the 2019 DHS Secretary’s Meritorious Service Award, and the 2015 DHS Law Enforcement Information Sharing (LEIS) Visionary Award. Dr. Alathari's previous experience includes mental health treatment, behavior analysis, and crisis intervention. Immediately prior to joining the U.S. Secret Service, Dr. Alathari worked at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, an inpatient state psychiatric facility, where she oversaw the behavior management program for patients who posed a risk for violence, self-harm, and suicide.

Dr. Alathari earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuropsychology from The George Washington University.

Mo Canady has served as executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) since 2011. Under his leadership, the organization became the premier training agency for school resource officers (SROs) across the United States and around the world and established standards for school-based policing. With his guidance, the organization’s Basic SRO Course became the only SRO course to receive certification from the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training and to be recognized by the federal government as the gold standard in SRO training.

Canady holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Jacksonville State University. He served as a law enforcement officer with the Hoover Police Department (HPD) in Hoover, Alabama for 25 years. During the final 12 years of his HPD career, he was supervisor of the department’s School Services Division. Canady retired from the HPD as a lieutenant in 2011.

He is a co-author of NASRO’s publication, “To Protect and Educate – The School Resource Officer and the Prevention of Violence in Schools”, released in 2012. Canady is widely recognized for his advocacy of carefully selected, specifically trained, and properly equipped school resource officers and is a respected voice in the school safety arena.

Frank DeAngelis was a staff member at Columbine High School in the Jeffco School District in Littleton, Colorado, since 1979, starting as a Social Studies teacher and filling the roles of Head Baseball Coach, Assistant Football Coach, Dean of Students, and Assistant Principal, before becoming the Principal in 1996. Frank is a Colorado native, completing his K-12 education in Denver-area schools, proceeding to graduate from Metropolitan State College and subsequently from the University of Colorado with a Master's Degree in Secondary Education and Social Studies, his Principal’s License, and a Master's Degree from the University of Phoenix. Frank has been involved in numerous professional activities and associations, and has received multiple awards for his teaching, leadership and coaching skills. He has also been called upon to speak about recovery after a school tragedy at a variety of conferences, and has assisted as a consultant after a number of other violent school events. He was selected as Colorado High School Principal of the Year and was one of the three finalists for National Principal of the Year. He received the Jefferson Country Lifetime Achievement Award and the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Award. He retired in June of 2014 after 35 years at Columbine High School. He is presently serving as a consultant for safety and emergency management for the Jeffco School District in Colorado. He is one of the founders of the Principal Recovery Network and continues to deliver speeches in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Benjamin S. Fernandez, MS. Ed., completed his graduate studies in School Psychology at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) and has worked as a school psychologist in Pennsylvania and Virginia with over 28 years of experience as a practitioner. Currently, he serves as the Director of Mental and Behavioral Health Programs for Safe and Sound Schools. He previously held the position of crisis intervention specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools, providing leadership and coordination of crisis intervention services and response consultation after acute traumatic events. As a lead school psychologist and coordinator in Loudoun County Public Schools, he provided a broad array of psychological and school-based mental health services, including assessment, suicide screenings, threat assessments of students and nonstudents, consultation, counseling, prevention, and intervention, as well as serving as a crisis team leader. Further, he has conducted presentations on suicide prevention for families as well as helping to establish the collection and review of suicide screening data to enhance processes and identify areas of further prevention and intervention. Additionally, he is a Lead PREPaRE Trainer and has contributed to presentations, articles, books, and webinars related to youth suicide, PREPaRE, school mental health, school safety and crisis intervention on the local, state, and national levels. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the Federal Commission on School Safety, the Congressional School Safety Caucus, and served as a member of the Governor of Virginia's Children's Cabinet on Student Safety. Most recently, Mr. Fernandez contributed to the Virginia Department of Education's Suicide Prevention Guidelines. In 2010, he was named School Psychologist of the Year by the Virginia Academy of School Psychologists, and in 2012, by the National Association of School Psychologists. In 2015 and 2018, Benjamin received the NASP Presidential Award, and in 2021 received the National Association of School Psychologists Crisis Management and Grief Support in Schools Interest Group Award for Excellence for significant contributions to the field of school safety and crisis intervention.

Mother, educator, and co-founder of Safe and Sound Schools, Michele Gay chose to take action after losing her daughter Josephine Grace on December 14, 2012. Since that time, Gay has channeled her work as an advocate to improve safety and security in schools and communities across our country. With a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Towson State University, Gay earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College. Prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy, she taught at the elementary level in public schools in Maryland and Virginia. Now a nationally and internationally recognized public speaker and school safety expert, Gay reaches audiences and consults with all levels of community institutions — schools; municipalities; houses of worship; educational and public safety leadership; state and federal governments; law enforcement agencies; and top news media sources. Through her work, and always with the goal of helping others increase safety in their own communities, Gay shares her personal experiences and the lessons she has learned.
The recipient of numerous national awards, Gay is a regular contributor for print, radio, and television outlets. The primary visionary and author of Safe and Sound’s programs and materials, Gay has served as a stakeholder voice in national legislative discussions. Through these works, Gay continues to build Safe and Sound Schools as a national hub of school safety education, technical assistance, expert content, and best practices. Gay’s impassioned position on school safety hinges on every community adopting a comprehensive, sustainable approach to safety. She works diligently to unite stakeholders of all disciplines and perspectives. An educator by training — and fueled by the heart of a mother and community member — Gay is uniquely positioned to help others prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from tragedies of their own. Gay remains inspired by Josephine every day. She dedicates herself to honoring Josephine’s memory through this work, ensuring that every school, every child, and every community is truly safe and sound.

Dr. Amy Grosso is a highly accomplished professional with a Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, more than 15 years of experience, and a passion for student well-being.

At Round Rock ISD, she led the creation of the Behavioral Health Services Department and oversaw a team of social workers providing vital support to students and families. Dr. Grosso pioneered the threat assessment process, creating a safe environment for over 46,000 students and updated suicide protocols district-wide, implementing evidence-based practices. Driven to enhance student support, she played a crucial role in establishing the Round Rock ISD Police Department, fostering collaboration between social workers and officers.

Nationally, Dr. Grosso serves on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's National Chapter Leadership Council, contributing to suicide prevention efforts.

Joe Hendry works at COSECURE, a division of Cozen O’Connor, as the Principal Consultant for K-12 in North America and Europe. In 2024, the firm was selected to provide subject matter expertise to the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) School Safety Task Force. He is currently serving in this role.

He is recognized as an expert in civilian and law enforcement responses to active threats, designated by the Ohio Department of Homeland Security and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. He served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps and spent 27 years with the Kent State Police Department. As a Best Recommended Expert Service Provider in Risk Assessment, Expert Witness, and Safety Analysis for the insurance industry, he holds a bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and is Board Certified as a Physical Security Professional by ASIS International. Currently, he serves as the Education Co-Chair for the International School Safety and Security Community.

Hendry previously held a Secret Level Security Clearance with the Department of Homeland Security, having accurately predicted an attack on an elementary school five months before the Sandy Hook tragedy. He has conducted and supervised over 300 risk assessments across schools, universities, businesses, healthcare facilities, and houses of worship. He has also trained, evaluated, or taken part in over 1000 active shooter trainings, drills, and exercises.

As one of the original eight law enforcement officers appointed by the Ohio Attorney General, he played a key role in developing and training the Single Officer Response to Active Threats (SORAT) course. He also created instructional materials on safely coordinating responses to prevent Blue on Blue incidents.

Hendry is one of just 49 national experts selected by NFPA 3000 for the Cross Functional Emergency Preparedness and Response (ACT-AAA) Committee, tasked with establishing national standards for civilians and first responders to Active Shooter/Hostile Events. He holds the classification of Special Expert from NFPA and is among the 40 international school security experts who developed the International School Safety Standard for ASIS International and approved by American National Standards Institute.

As a co-author of the first empirical, evidence-based study on civilian responses to active shooters, Hendry has contributed to numerous publications, including Police1, Campus Safety Magazine, The Journal of School Violence, Best’s Review, Security Magazine, and Security Management. He has been interviewed by NPR, Time Magazine, Campus Safety Magazine, Security Management and others as an expert in school security and safety, recovery from critical events, and law enforcement response to active threats and terrorist attacks.

Molly Bradley Hudgens is a 1998 and 2000 graduate of Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Allied Language Arts and a master of Arts in Education degree in counseling. She is currently completing her twenty-sixth year as an educator in the Cheatham County School System, where she serves as a school counselor at Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View, Tennessee. In addition to her counseling role, Mrs. Hudgens also currently serves on SMS’s Crisis Management and Leadership Teams as well as sponsoring the Jr. Beta Society at her school.

After a personal experience in college, her interest in violence prevention and safety sparked a desire to educate others who work with intervening in the lives of potentially violent teenagers. Her in-depth study on school shootings and the teenagers who commit these acts, “Recognizing Red Flags,” has been utilized nationally to train professionals in the fields of education, law enforcement, juvenile probation, and juvenile court. The training focuses on understanding the three types of school shooters and how to use threat assessment tools as an intervention to prevent violent acts in a school and community setting.

Mrs. Hudgens put her training to use on September 28, 2016, when she talked a student with a loaded handgun out of committing a mass shooting at Sycamore Middle School. Hudgens, the 2004-2005 and 2016-2017 Sycamore Middle School and Cheatham County Middle School Teacher of the Year, became a Congressional Medal of Honor Citizens Honor recipient for a Single Act of Heroism from the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation in March of 2017. She is also the 2017 recipient of the Tennessee School Counseling Association’s Phoebe White Award for Excellence in School Counseling and the 2019 Mental Health of the Midsouth's I.C. Hope Award for raising mental health awareness in schools.

Hudgens has been the recipient of three state recognitions for heroic actions on September 28, 2016 – a Proclamation from the Tennessee House of Representatives in October of 2016, House Resolution No. 66 from the Tennessee House of Representatives in March of 2017, and Senate Resolution No. 40 from the Tennessee State Senate in April of 2017. Mrs. Hudgens has also been a nominee for the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission as well as the American Hero Channel’s Red Bandanna Hero Award in 2017. Hudgens is also a 2023 inductee of the Cheatham County Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Kim Karr, Executive Director & Co-Founder, #ICANHELP - After 13 years of working with students as a teacher and activities director, Kim now empowers students and adults alike through her leadership at #ICANHELP, a nonprofit that’s on a mission to build safer school communities and develop the next generation of leaders and changemakers who use Digital4Good. An effective, outcome-based program, #ICANHELP has educated over 2.4 million students and educators on digital citizenship and wellness and taken down over 1,000 harmful social media pages. The nonprofit has received support and recognition from Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and major tech companies such as Google, TikTok, and Twitter. As Executive Director, Kim has delivered presentations to more than 600 schools and districts (and counting!) and leads the nonprofit’s intern and volunteer program.

Antoinette King has more than two decades of experience in the security industry, working in integration, manufacturing, and consulting. Antoinette founded Credo Cyber Consulting in 2020 with the goal of providing her clients with a holistic perspective on security, bridging the gap between the physical and cybersecurity domains focusing on data privacy and protection. Her book, The Digital Citizen’s Guide to Cybersecurity: How to Stay Safe and Empowered Online hit the Amazon Best Seller’s list for all its categories in the first 48 hours of release.

Katey McPherson is a digital wellness advocate and educator specializing in the intersection of student behavior, digital environments, and school safety. With more than 30 years of experience as a teacher, guidance counselor, school administrator, and educational consultant, she brings a multidisciplinary perspective to youth risk identification, digital behavior analysis, and school-based intervention strategies.

Recognizing gaps in traditional approaches to student wellness and safety, Katey developed a framework that integrates digital behavioral patterns, mental health indicators, and school threat-assessment practices.

She currently serves as Director of Community Outreach for a leading school safety app and has led community and statewide initiatives focused on youth suicide prevention, teen violence prevention, and mental health advocacy throughout Arizona. Katey is the proud mother of four teenage daughters, a role she considers her most important.