Enhancing School Safety Using Behavioral Threat Assessment

In anticipation of the Fall 2024 return to school, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) will host a virtual presentation highlighting key findings and implications from its decades of research on school violence. In this training, Dr. Kelsey Morris, NTAC’s Education Program Specialist (biography below), will discuss the backgrounds, thinking, and behaviors of school attackers and how some schools have discovered and stopped plots before violence occurred. A case study of a student attacker will also be presented and highlight the role of social, emotional, behavioral health and wellbeing in behavioral threat assessment. This free virtual event is appropriate for educators, administrators, counselors and mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, and other school safety partners.

Registrants will be emailed a Microsoft Teams link prior to the event

Event date: August 21, 2024

Event time: 12:00-2:00 PM EST

Register Here

About Dr. Kelsey Morris, Education Program Specialist for NTAC

Dr. Morris is the Education Program Specialist for the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC), where he oversees the analysis, study, and training of behavioral threat assessment programs in K-12 schools and institutes of higher education. The goal of these programs is to prevent school violence and other unwanted behaviors by providing early interventions and supports for at-risk youth. In this role, Dr. Morris applies an extensive professional knowledge in the fields of adolescent development, special education, and early childhood education. Prior to joining the Secret Service, Dr. Morris was an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri (MU) and Co-Director of the MU Center for School-wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS). Dr. Morris also served as Vice President of the International Association for Positive Behavior Support (APBS) and a member of the APBS Board of Directors, as well as an implementation partner for the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Offices of Special Education Programs and Elementary and Secondary Education. He is a national scholar with technical assistance, publications, and research focused on PBIS; classroom management; data-based decision making; and district-wide implementation of PBIS and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) emphasizing social, emotional, behavioral supports. Dr. Morris brings nearly 20 years of experience working with K-12 schools as a classroom teacher, building administrator, and district liaison for school-wide PBS. Dr. Morris earned both an Education Specialist (EdSp) with an emphasis in PK-12 educational leadership and administration and a Doctorate of Education (EdD) with emphasis in educational leadership from the University of Missouri.