Services

As a nationally recognized expert on mass shootings and school safety, Jaclyn regularly participates in speaking engagements across the country. She also is available for consulting with schools and districts seeking to assess their safety practices and protocols, as well as communities impacted by mass shootings. If interested in having her speak to or consult with your organization, please feel free to contact her for more information.

Speaking

Jaclyn has served as a public speaker for events and organizations across the nation. Her presentations are grounded in empirical evidence and scholarly research but are offered in a way that makes the information accessible to a variety of audiences. She blends her professional experience with her personal connection to tragedy with the goal of helping to keep communities and schools across the nation safe.

Jaclyn has previously spoken before numerous institutions and organizations including (but not limited to):

The following are examples of several of Jaclyn’s presentations. Customized talks (e.g., length, content) can be created based on your organization’s needs and goals of the presentation.

Mass casualty events, such as mass shootings and acts of terrorism, have provided important insight for communities with respect to the needs of those who have been impacted by such tragedies. Importantly, when responding to these mass casualty events, communities must plan and prepare not only for the immediate aftermath, but also the needs of impacted individuals, including the broader community, for the long term. Based on research conducted with survivors of the mass shootings at Columbine High School (1999), Virginia Tech (2007), Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012), Las Vegas (2017), and others, as well as her own experience as a researcher from two communities experiencing mass shootings, Jaclyn highlights considerations for the immediate, intermediate, and long-term related to services and resources needed to support such communities. Topics to be touched upon include liaising with the media, coordinating support services, funding, and the establishment of community response and resiliency centers. Additional consideration is given to the role of survivors of previous tragedies in supporting the work of impacted communities to provide a robust and holistic approach to supporting survivors and communities. 

In the aftermath of high-profile school shootings including Columbine, Sandy Hook, and most recently Parkland, school security continues to be a booming industry, with expenditures topping $2.7 billion in 2017 alone.  In this session, Jaclyn provides a brief historical overview of school and mass shootings in the U.S., then examines security-based responses to such events.  The effectiveness (real vs. perceived) of varying technologies offered in response to episodes of mass violence, such as metal detectors, bulletproof products, and armed security personnel, also is explored.

The events of April 20, 1999 forever changed American culture and perceptions of safety in schools.  Now, 20 years later, many lessons have been learned from the Columbine shooting that have helped to save lives; at the same time, however, there still is more work to be done.  In this session, Jaclyn discusses how Columbine reshaped the narrative about school safety and security, as well as the long-term implications of such a discussion.  Issues such as law enforcement responses, threat assessment, and school securitization also are explored.

Since August 2018, Jaclyn has been working in Syracuse City School District in Central New York implementing and testing an emergency response plan to understand how participating in lockdown drills impacts these groups, as well as how training and continued practice impacts the effectiveness of lockdown response. This initial research yielded several journal articles co-authored with colleagues that have been published in Journal of School Violence, Victims & Offenders, School Psychology Review, and Educational Policy (forthcoming). The partnership continued through the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, with the most recent work modifying drills for the COVID-19 pandemic. In this presentation, Jaclyn talks about the evaluation of this work, including some impressive results that are very telling about the efficacy of conducting drills correctly. Best practices also are discussed to ensure your drills are being conducted effectively. 

Consulting

Jaclyn’s expertise, particularly related to school safety, has been highly sought after by organizations. She regularly consults with schools and districts in varying capacities (one-time meetings, ongoing collaborations) about their safety and security practices. She also has provided expert testimony to school districts and their boards seeking to implement security-based practices such as armed teachers.

Jaclyn has served on multiple task forces formed in the aftermath of high-profile mass shootings, including for both Onondaga and Oswego counties in New York. She also consults with communities impacted by these tragedies, such as San Jose, CA (2021), providing them with evidence-based recommendations and connections to additional resources that may be needed during the aftermath and recovery. 

Among the numerous organizations Jaclyn has consulted with are:

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