Editors: A complete schedule of events is available by calling (303) 492-4007. This event is not open to the public but reporters are welcome to attend
More than 110 school and community officials from throughout the state will gather in Boulder May 17-19 for a seminar on safe school planning offered by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Ronald Stephens, director of the National School Safety Center in Westlake Village, Calif., will conduct the seminar which is part of the training being provided to 16 Colorado school districts as part of the Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative. Other featured speakers will include Attorney General Ken Salazar and Professor Delbert Elliott, director of the CU-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.
The seminar will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Boulderado Hotel, 2115 13th St.
Stephens will speak on Wednesday, May 17, from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m, and Salazar will speak at 12:30 p.m. Elliott will speak on Friday, May 19, at 11 a.m.
The training is funded by the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. The seminar will focus on creating and maintaining safe school environments. Participants will learn strategies and develop skills related to safe school planning, school security and school-community collaborations.
The $1 million Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative is a statewide partnership of the CU-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, The Colorado Trust, the Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Association of School Executives, Colorado Department of Education, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Federation of Teachers, Front Range and Metro Denver Safe and Drug-Free School Coordinators, Coors Brewing Co. and CU-Boulder. The initiative is funded by The Colorado Trust. In addition, the Colorado Public Safety Partnership of the Colorado Department of Public Safety has assembled teams of five or six representatives from around the state to participate.
Over the three years of the initiative, which began in fall 1999, the CU-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence will provide any of Colorado聮s 1,500 schools or their school districts with information, practical planning tools and technical assistance to conduct safe school planning that addresses their community聮s unique needs.
For more information contact the CU-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at (303) 492-1032 or visit the center's Web site at .