Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, will discuss the importance of creating a safe and supportive school environment at the Colorado Safe School Regional Training program. His keynote address will take place at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21. In his remarks, Jennings also will discuss the Department’s recent award of $38.8 million in Safe and Supportive Schools grants to 11 states to measure safety at the school building level and to help intervene in those schools with the greatest safety needs.

The regional training program is hosted by the Colorado School Safety Resource Center (Colorado Department of Public Safety) and the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (University of Colorado, Boulder). It will focus on such topics as bullying; the four phases of emergency management: prevention-mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery; sexting; suicide prevention and intervention; and support for grieving students.