Enhancing School Safety and Security: Federal Resources to Protect the K-12 Community
In today’s environment, K-12 schools face an evolving and dynamic set of security risks and threats, ranging from acts of targeted violence to bomb threats to natural disasters. Enhancing school safety and security requires a community-based, comprehensive and holistic approach, in which a wide range of school community members play a role. Join representatives from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for a panel focused on research-informed strategies, guidance and tools that K-12 leaders can use to enhance safe and supportive learning environments.
CISA also recognizes that each school is unique and contends with an individual set of safety needs and challenges. This panel will share evidence-based practices, resources and guidance available from CISA on a range of school safety topics and threats, including de-escalation, bombing prevention and active shooter preparedness. Members of the school safety community will learn about tools to prioritize school safety actions, find applicable resources, connect with state-specific and local school safety officials and develop school safety plans tailored to their specific circumstances.
Date
- May 20 2025
Time
- 9:45 am - 10:30 am
Location
Other Locations
- 1201 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20005
Speakers
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Don HoughDeputy Associate Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency School Safety Task ForceDon Hough serves as the deputy associate director for the School Safety Task Force at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The School Safety Task Force was established to support the federal government’s efforts in strengthening the safety and security of K-12 schools across the country. In this role, Hough enhances the safety and security of the nationwide K-12 school community by leading the DHS team responsible for building the capacity of K-12 schools and districts to protect against, and mitigate, security threats and risks, and manages the implementation efforts of the Luke and Alex School Safety Act. In addition, Hough has supported the design and development of SchoolSafety.gov, administered the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse, launched multiple flagship resources such as the CISA K-12 School Security Guide Product Suite and the CISA-United States Secret Service Bystander Reporting Toolkit and directed the National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security.
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Lindsay BurtonAssociate Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency School Safety Task ForceLindsay Burton serves as associate director for the School Safety Task Force at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The School Safety Task Force was established to support the federal government’s efforts in strengthening the safety and security of K-12 schools across the country. In her leadership role, Burton leads the department’s effort to increase safety and security of our nation’s schools. In addition, Burton currently oversees the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety and SchoolSafety.gov, an interagency initiative to coordinate federal efforts to make schools secure and resilient. She also manages the program’s design and deployment of capacity-building resources to support schools and communities in preventing violence and mitigate impacts of instances of violence, including the CISA K-12 School Security Guide Product Suite, National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security, K-12 Bystander Reporting Toolkit and K-12 Anonymized Threat Response Guidance.
