May 28, 2025 – HOOVER, Ala. – A variety of national experts will discuss ways to prevent and respond to violence in our nation’s schools during the 35th annual National School Safety Conference, July 6-11, in Grapevine, Texas, near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The National Association of School Resource Officers hosts the conference in a different location every year.
The conference schedule includes more than 40 breakout sessions on a wide variety of important topics, including:
- Debrief of the Arapahoe High School Shooting 12/13/13, by James Englert, school resource officer, Douglas County (Colorado) Sheriff’s Office, July 10, 8 a.m. Englert will provide a rare and powerful firsthand account from the school resource officer who was on scene and responded to the 2013 shooting at Colorado’s Arapahoe High School, in which an 18-year-old student shot and killed a 17-year-old student with a shotgun.
- Shootings and K-12 Special Events, by Lt. Jeremy Barnes, Utah Department of Public Safety, July 10, 12:45 p.m. Barnes will discuss the prevalence of shootings at K-12 special events, e.g., high school football games, where 37 shootings occurred in the autumn of 2023. He will explore the inconsistency of security measures at the K-12 level and what can be done to improve safety at K-12 special events.
- Lessons Learned from the Averted School Violence Program, by Dr. Joe McKenna, senior director of projects and programs, Safe and Sound Schools, July 10, 9:45 a.m. McKenna will explore the benefits of studying averted incidents of school violence and how the data can be used to develop training and education for multidisciplinary school safety teams.
- FBI Active Shooter Study / Run Hide Fight for Education Environments, by Einer J. Gustafson, unit chief - supervisory special agent, FBI, July 10, 8 a.m. Gustafson will focus on the FBI's Active Shooter Study, highlighting incidents in pre-K through 12 schools over the past 25 years. He will also discuss changes that have been made in educational environments to improve safety, prevention methods, and examples of thwarted or prevented incidents at schools.
- Radicalized Communities: Decoding Online Leakage to Prevent Tragedy, by Steven MacDonald, director of training and development, Safer Schools Together, July 8, 9:45 a.m. MacDonald will discuss the potential of online communities to influence high-risk and vulnerable youth while fostering radicalization, reinforcing harmful ideologies and escalating individuals toward real-world violence.
- Trauma-Informed Strategies for School Violence Prevention, by Dr. Stephanie Duer, behavioral health partnership program liaison, Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare, Huntsville, Texas, July 10, 9:45 a.m. Duer will explain how trauma and disconnect can be indicators for future school violence and how trauma-informed strategies can be used to connect and intervene with at-risk students before violence occurs.
The above dates and times are subject to change. A complete, continuously updated schedule of sessions is available on NASRO’s website.
In addition to the breakout sessions described above, the conference will offer several compelling general sessions for all attendees, including proactive ways to prevent mass shootings and other threats in schools, preventing gang recruitment of youth and the importance of interpersonal connections in keeping children safe.
In 2024, 1,850 people attended the NASRO National School Safety Conference in Phoenix. More than 2,000 people have already registered for this year’s edition, putting it on track to be the largest conference in NASRO’s history. In addition to multiple presentations, the event will offer attendees an opportunity to receive in-service training; visit an exhibit hall with the latest in products, technologies and innovations; and interact with school resource officers, school administrators, sheriffs and chiefs of police from throughout the country and world.
More information about the conference, including a complete agenda and online registration, is available at www.nasro.org/conference/.
Complimentary credentials are available to working journalists covering the conference. NASRO requests that journalists who wish to attend inform their media contact (below) as soon as possible.
About NASRO
NASRO is a nonprofit organization for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security/safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff, and the schools they attend. NASRO’s national offices are in Hoover, Alabama. The organization was established in 1991. For more information, visit www.nasro.org.
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