School safety and gun violence took center stage this year national education conference It will be held this week at the San Diego Convention Center.
The gathering, which brought together 3,600 superintendents and other school administrators from across the country, was hosted by: School Superintendents Association. School leaders have been in town since Thursday to learn strategies and hear about success stories on campuses across the state.
Among the products and services on display in the exhibit hall was a patented life-saving laminate designed to stop a gunman's bullets before they harm children in classrooms.
“Last year, I think we armored about 3,800 buildings across the country,” said Steve Johnson, a former police SWAT officer and founder of Safe Haven Defense.
Bulletproof laminates are just one of the school safety products featured at the annual conference. Safety was also a theme in Friday's keynote speech by Michelle Gay, who lost her 7-year-old daughter Josephine Grace in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.
“Today, we have made great progress, but there is still much work to be done,” Gay said.
She and other Sandy Hook parents safe and healthy school organization In honor of my daughter, I am advocating for the safety of all students wherever they are.
“We want the place she loved to be available to all children. Everyone should be safe and sound, including teachers, bus drivers, and cafeteria staff. Every day. Everyone who lives in that (school) building,” she said.
Of course, the education conference will also feature many learning products for attendees to review, from virtual basketball to supplemental virtual help for teachers.
The latter is provided by a company called Paper, which offers online tutoring after school and during class hours. This program is funded by the school district and is free to families.
“We work with school districts to identify 'what are the needs?' Should we focus on reading and writing in middle school or math in elementary school?” ) to see what areas they would like us to improve on (for students),” said Philip Cutler, CEO of Paper Educational Support Company.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was also a priority at the conference, with several vendors offering school districts options for using the growing technology.
Dave Schuler, executive director of the School Superintendents Association, said, “For years we've been asking kids to solve equations, and now with technology we can… We have to teach children how to write questions correctly.”
