School Violence Prevention Conference Set

Monaca, PA (PittsburghNewsWire.com) — Big Beaver Falls High School, Beaver Falls, PA will be the site of a daylong conference on school violence prevention on Monday, October 14, 2013 from 8am to 5pm. Entitled “Sensible Solutions: A One-Day School Violence Conference” it will feature both local and nationally recognized speakers & resources people.Sponsored by Corporate Security & Investigations (CSI) of Monaca the event will include keynote addresses by U. S. Attorney Hickton and speakers from Sandy Hook Promise, Peace Learning Center, I Love You Guys Foundation and Case Western Reserve University.

“As we all know, the general population seems to have a short historical memory”, said Louis Gentile, Founder & CEO of CSI. “The goal of the conference is to ensure that both school violence and all violence are recognized as a permanent phenomenon in our society and develop sensible solutions to prevent, control and respond to this reality”, continued Gentile.

Speakers will include:

• John-Michael Keyes of “I Love You Guys Foundation” whose daughter was killed by a gunman at Platte Canyon High School, Colorado. In response to this tragedy Mr. Keyes & his wife created foundation which developed Safe2Tell, the statewide anonymous reporting tool implemented in Colorado and other areas nationwide.
• Tim Nation, founder & Executive Director of Peace Learning Center, a community educational institution that teaches peace building and communication skills to youth and adults in eight US cities and five countries.
• The Honorable David J. Hickton, United States attorney. A graduate of Penn State University and University of Pittsburgh School of Law Mr. Hickton has been the U.S. Attorney of the Western Pennsylvania district since 2010.
• Tim Makris, Executive Director of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization, created to turn the Sandy Hook School tragedy into a positive transformational force in support of common sense solutions to school and community violence.
• Nelba Marquez-Green of Sandy Hook Promise will lead a session on mental health issues.  Ms. Marquez-Green lost her daughter, Ana, among the 20 first graders killed at Sandy Hook elementary school.
• Nicole Hockley is the Communications Director of Sandy Hook Promise and will present common sense approaches to school & community violence, particularly those that involve the use of a gun. Nicole dedicated herself to working for change so that other families might be spared the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence. Her son, Dylan, lost his young life in the school shooting.
• Daniel J. Flannery, Ph. D. is the Semi J. and Ruth Begun Professor and Director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio. A licensed clinical psychologist he is also a member of the graduate faculty of the University of Notre Dame and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western University. Dr. Flannery has focused his research on the link between violence and mental health. His work has appeared in a variety of scholarly publications including Developmental Psychology, The New England Journal of Medicine, Criminology & Public Policy and Psychological Review.

The conference will conclude with a Legal and Policy Panel discussion composed of the honorable David J. Hickton, U.S. Attorney; the Honorable Jeffrey A. Manning, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas; the Honorable Anthony J. Berosh, Beaver County District Attorney; James J. Ross, Esq., Judge Elect, Beaver County Court of Common Pleas; John T. Rago, Associate Professor of Law, Duquesne university; Richard Garland, faculty member, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh and Phillip Quinque, MSW, LSW, Carnegie Mellon University.To register, contact CSInvesitigators.com/Sensible Solutions or call 724-775-3577, Ext. 2525. Registration fee is $99 and includes breakfast, lunch and an appetizer social hour following the conference. All registration must be in advance as there will be no same day registration.

All net proceeds will be distributed to the Sandy Hook Promise, I Love You Guys Foundation and Peace Learning Center.

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