Practical strategies for leading, preparing, and communicating when school safety is on the line.

Keynotes, workshops, and staff school safety training led by Dr. Kenneth S. Trump, drawing on more than 40 years of independent, non-vendor experience in PreK-12 school safety.

School leaders and staff need more than awareness of the latest school safety concerns. They need practical ways to strengthen everyday security, prepare for emergencies, and make sound decisions under pressure.

Dr. Ken Trump has spent more than four decades presenting school safety training to the people responsible for keeping students safe, from superintendents, principals, and school board members to state and federal policymakers, first responders, attorneys, academicians, and the media. 

Dr. Ken’s approach emphasizes practical preparation, clear communication, and the people responsible for putting school safety plans into action. Programs are built for the audience in the room, not delivered off a shelf. Formats include keynote presentations, workshops and seminars, and facilitated planning sessions for school safety and crisis preparedness teams.

Whether you are planning a conference keynote, district professional development session, or focused leadership workshop, our school safety training is developed around your audience, available time, and desired outcomes.

Be aware and prepared—not scared.

 

School Safety Presentation & Workshop Topics

The following programs provide a starting point for planning your school safety training. Content, emphasis, examples, and depth can be tailored to your audience and format.

1. School Safety Leadership: Making Decisions Under Uncertainty

Practical strategies for setting priorities, assessing competing recommendations, and leading under pressure.

School leaders face pressure to act quickly on safety concerns, often before all the facts are available. Competing recommendations, heightened emotions, political and community pressures, and demands for immediate solutions can make it difficult to distinguish meaningful improvements from reactive decisions.

This presentation examines how leaders can bring structure and direction to uncertain situations. Participants explore ways to assess competing priorities, clarify responsibility, and connect safety decisions to the operational realities of their schools. The emphasis is on leadership judgment and organizational readiness before, during, and after a crisis.

Key takeaways:

• Evaluate safety proposals against school needs, implementation demands, evidence, and long-term sustainability.

• Clarify leadership responsibilities and expectations before a high-pressure incident.

• Recognize how uncertainty and organizational pressures influence school safety decisions.

• Establish a practical process for reviewing concerns and following through on improvements.

Ideal audiences: Superintendents, cabinet members, principals, school boards, independent school heads, and school safety leaders.

Suggested formats: Leadership keynote, administrator workshop, or facilitated leadership discussion.

2. School Safety Training for Staff: Situational Awareness & Decision-Making

Target hardening people, not just places: Strengthening situational awareness and decisions under stress.

Security equipment and written procedures depend on people to use them effectively. Distractions, assumptions, inconsistent routines, complacency, and unclear expectations can weaken even a well-developed school safety program.

This session focuses on the human side of prevention and preparedness. Participants examine how everyday habits influence security, how stress can affect attention and judgment, and how clearer procedures and purposeful practice can support more consistent responses.

The goal is not to create fear or turn educators into security officers. It is to help staff become more attentive, confident, and prepared to recognize concerns, communicate effectively, and carry out their actual safety responsibilities.

Key takeaways:

• Recognize everyday conditions that contribute to missed concerns and inconsistent safety practices.

• Strengthen situational awareness without creating a climate of fear.

• Identify where procedures need clearer language, ownership, or reinforcement.

• Use discussion, practice, and active supervision to prepare staff for decisions under pressure.

Ideal audiences: Teachers, administrators, office staff, support staff, school security personnel, and school resource officers.

Suggested formats: Staff professional development, conference presentation, or interactive workshop.

3. Building Effective School Safety & Crisis Response Teams

Moving from improvised response to structured, coordinated teams.

A school safety team needs more than a roster and an emergency binder. Members need a shared purpose, defined responsibilities, productive meetings, communication processes, and a clear understanding of how they will work together when an incident occurs.

This workshop examines what makes school and district safety teams functional before an emergency and better prepared to coordinate under pressure. Participants explore team membership, leadership, communication, accountability, and follow-through, with attention to relationships among schools, district offices, and community response partners.

Key takeaways:

• Define the team’s purpose, membership, responsibilities, and decision-making processes.

• Build meeting routines that produce action and accountability.

• Clarify coordination among school teams, district leaders, and first responders.

• Use exercises and incident reviews to identify gaps and sustain improvement.

Ideal audiences: School and district safety teams, administrators, student services professionals, school security staff, SROs, and emergency response partners.

Suggested formats: Team workshop, facilitated planning session, or conference breakout.

4. School Security & Emergency Preparedness Planning

Getting the fundamentals right and making them work every day.

Effective school safety requires consistent attention to everyday practices as well as preparation for major emergencies. Schools benefit from examining how supervision, access procedures, staff responsibilities, reporting practices, communications, emergency plans, drills, and exercises work together.

This program provides a practical review of school security and emergency preparedness fundamentals. Participants consider where gaps can develop between written expectations and daily operations, how to prioritize improvements, and how to make preparedness an ongoing process involving staff and community partners.

Key takeaways:

• Examine daily security practices for gaps in consistency, implementation, and responsibility.

• Identify where emergency plans need greater clarity or operational detail.

• Connect staff training, drills, tabletop exercises, and other exercises to specific preparedness needs.

• Set manageable priorities for implementation, review, and follow-through.

Ideal audiences: Principals, district administrators, safety coordinators, school security personnel, crisis teams, and staff with safety responsibilities.

Suggested formats: Professional development session, practical workshop, or conference presentation.

5. School Safety & Crisis Communication for School Leaders

Providing clear information when facts are developing and concern is high.

School safety communication begins well before an emergency. How schools explain their everyday safety practices, respond to concerns, communicate risk, and set expectations shapes the relationships and credibility they will rely upon during a crisis.

This presentation examines how to communicate with students, staff, families, news media, and the broader school community when information is incomplete and emotions are high. Participants explore the balance between timely updates and accuracy, the importance of acknowledging uncertainty, and ways to coordinate messages across school and district leadership.

Key takeaways:

• Explain safety practices clearly while respecting sensitive security information.

• Prepare communication responsibilities and processes before an incident.

• Address developing situations without speculation or unsupported assurances.

• Maintain useful follow-up communication as circumstances change.

• Build credibility before a crisis puts school-community trust to the test.

Ideal audiences: Superintendents, principals, communications directors, public information officers, school boards, and school safety leaders.

Suggested formats: Conference keynote, leadership and communications workshop, or facilitated scenario discussion.

Who Are These School Safety Training Programs Designed For?

Dr. Ken Trump’s school safety programs are tailored for superintendents, school boards, principals and administrators, teachers and support staff, school safety and crisis teams, communications professionals, school resource officers and public safety partners, and leaders of public, independent, faith-based, and charter schools.

The responsibilities, experience, and needs of the participants guide the content and emphasis of each program.

Customized School Safety Keynotes, Staff Training & Team Workshops

Programs can be adapted to the audience, available time, and desired outcomes.

Conference Keynotes & School Safety Presentations

Give participants a clear perspective on today’s school safety challenges while providing practical priorities and questions they can take back to their schools and organizations.

School Staff Professional Development & Workshops

Connect school safety concepts to participants’ actual responsibilities through focused instruction, discussion, practical examples, and application.

Facilitated School Safety & Crisis Team Planning Sessions

Bring leadership and safety teams together to examine concerns, clarify responsibilities, challenge assumptions, strengthen coordination, and identify practical next steps.

School Safety Speakers Bureau

Experienced School Safety Speakers for Conferences, Training & Professional Development

Looking for a school safety speaker for a conference, education association, school district professional development program, leadership retreat, or special event?

Our School Safety Speakers Bureau connects schools and organizations with experienced professionals who bring practical and firsthand perspectives on school safety, school security, emergency preparedness, crisis leadership and communications, violence prevention, behavioral threat assessment, school resource officer partnerships, student mental health, and crisis response and recovery.

Our speakers include current and former school administrators, school safety professionals, law enforcement and school resource officer experts, psychologists, violence prevention specialists, and education leaders who have managed major school crises.

Programs can include keynote presentations, conference sessions, workshops, panels, leadership programs, exercises, facilitated discussions, and professional development.

Independent expertise. Practical experience. No product pitches.

Meet Our School Safety Speakers

Dr. Kenneth S. Trump

Strategic School Safety Leadership | School Security | Emergency Preparedness | Crisis Communication

Dr. Ken Trump brings more than four decades of K-12 school safety experience to presentations for school leaders, staff, school boards, public safety professionals, and education organizations. His programs focus on strategic school safety leadership, human factors, school security and emergency preparedness, crisis decision-making, safety teams, and communicating school safety before, during, and after a crisis.

Stephen Bucheli Bayne, Ed.D.

Regional School Safety Collaboration | Interagency Emergency Preparedness | District Safety Systems

Stephen Bucheli Bayne, Ed.D., brings nearly four decades of K-12 experience to presentations, exercises, and facilitated discussions designed to help school leaders move beyond isolated safety and security initiatives and build sustainable, relationship-driven systems.

His programs include Building Regional School Safety & Emergency Preparedness Collaboratives, focused on bringing school districts and community partners together for meaningful planning, exercises, reunification, communications, Incident Command System and Emergency Operations Center preparedness, and other joint activities.

He also presents Creating a Multi-Layered Collaborative Safety System Within Your School District, helping leaders connect administrators, safety and security, risk management, transportation, facilities, communications, mental health professionals, law enforcement, and other stakeholders within a sustainable districtwide framework.

Dr. Asia R. Jones

Educational Leadership | Student Services | Student Mental Health | Threat Assessment

Dr. Asia Jones brings more than 30 years of public education leadership experience, including service as a teacher, principal, personnel director, and assistant superintendent for student services. Her presentation experience includes leadership development, student mental health, dropout prevention, threat assessment, and strategic Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports.

Rick Kaufman, APR

Crisis Communication | Emergency Management | School-Community Relations | School Safety Leadership

Rick Kaufman brings extensive experience in school district communications, emergency management, crisis response, and community relations. His presentations help education leaders prepare for and communicate through school emergencies, manage high-profile and rapidly evolving situations, and strengthen communication with families, staff, news media, and community partners.

Trent Lovett

School Shooting Response | Crisis Leadership | Reunification | Recovery

Former Marshall County Schools Superintendent Trent Lovett provides a firsthand perspective on leading a school district through the January 2018 Marshall County High School shooting and its aftermath. His presentation addresses the immediate response, first responders, reunification, media responsibilities, reopening the school, litigation, and challenges that continued in the weeks, months, and years following the tragedy.

Kirk Carpenter

Lessons From a School Shooting | Crisis Preparedness | Leadership | Recovery

Kirk Carpenter draws upon firsthand experience from the December 2017 Aztec High School shooting to help school leaders examine their own preparedness. His programs address school safety plans and drills, coordination with community response agencies, crisis leadership, recovery, school safety culture, and the everyday commitment required to keep students and staff safe.

John Calvert & Dr. Heather Calvert

School Administrator-SRO Partnerships | Education & Law Enforcement | Crisis Drills

John and Heather Calvert bring together two professional worlds that must work effectively together to keep schools safe: education and law enforcement.

John has served as a law enforcement officer, school resource officer, and state school safety director. Heather’s education experience includes classroom teaching, instructional coaching, assistant principal, principal, and principal coaching roles.

Their signature Merging Two Worlds presentation explores practical ways educators and law enforcement can strengthen relationships, understanding, and coordination rather than simply being expected to work together without strategic planning.

Bobby Kipper

School & Community Violence Prevention | Behavior-Based School Safety | Law Enforcement

Bobby Kipper brings decades of law enforcement, school safety, and violence prevention experience to programs focused on long-term approaches to school and community violence. His background includes developing school safety programs, training school staff and first responders, police negotiation, school resource officer training, and behavior-based approaches to prevention and school safety.

Wendy Davison, M.Ed., CPD

Behavioral Threat Assessment | Emergency Preparedness | Reunification | Behavior-Based School Safety

Wendy Davison is an experienced school administrator, school safety consultant, and presenter with nearly three decades in education. Her programs address behavioral threat assessment, emergency operations planning, crisis response and communications, reunification, school climate, and prevention-focused, behavior-based school safety.

Dr. Scott Poland

School Psychology | Suicide Prevention & Postvention | School Crisis | Threat Assessment

Dr. Scott Poland is a nationally recognized school psychologist and crisis expert with extensive experience presenting nationally and internationally. His programs address school crisis response and recovery, youth suicide prevention and intervention, self-injury, bullying and youth violence, threat assessment, parenting, and psychological services in schools.

Find the Right School Safety Speaker for Your Event

Not every audience needs the same school safety presentation. Our School Safety Speakers Bureau can help conference planners, education associations, school districts, independent and faith-based schools, and other organizations identify speakers whose professional experience and presentation topics fit their audience, priorities, and event.

Programs may include an individual school safety keynote speaker, conference presentation or workshop, a panel of school safety experts, a facilitated discussion or exercise, or a coordinated training program involving multiple presenters.

For programs involving Dr. Ken Trump and/or multiple members of our training team, National School Safety and Security Services can coordinate the engagement. For individual speaker requests, we can connect organizations directly with the requested speaker.

Looking for a School Safety Speaker?

Tell us about your event, audience, preferred dates, and the school safety topics you want to address.

Ask About a School Safety Speaker

 

School Safety Speaking Experience Across Education & Public Safety

In addition to public, parochial, independent, and charter schools and regional education offices nationwide, examples include:

Education and professional associations — National School Boards Association, American Association of School Administrators, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National School Public Relations Association, Association of School Business Officials International, National PTA, National Association of School Resource Officers, and state-level associations in Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Georgia, Montana, and Michigan, among others.

Law enforcement and emergency management — FBI National Academy, state police and gang investigator associations, state emergency management agencies, and regional community-policing institutes.

Government and public policy — U.S. Senate and House committees on education and homeland security, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the U.S. Department of Justice and State Department, state departments of education, and state school-security commissions and task forces (including the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission and the New Jersey School Security Task Force).

Academic institutions — The Ohio State University, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, and Cleveland State University, among others.

(Reference letters from past clients and engagements available on request.)

 How Much Does School Safety Training Cost?

School safety training fees depend on the presentation format, preparation required, program length, on-site time, travel commitments, and the specific needs of the organization.

To request availability and a customized quote, provide your organization, preferred date or dates, event location, audience, approximate attendance, requested topic or areas of interest, and anticipated program length.

Request a School Safety Training or Keynote Presentation Quote

Bring Practical School Safety Training to Your Organization

Whether you are planning a conference keynote, district professional development program, school board or leadership workshop, school safety team session, or looking for a speaker through our School Safety Speakers Bureau, tell us about your audience and objectives.

Request Availability & a Program Quote

Call: (216) 251-3067

Email: ken@schoolsecurity.org