For Immediate Release September 30, 2008                                    
Contact: Corey Welford/Jessica Venezia 781-897-8325                                                                         

District Attorney Leone and Middlesex Partnerships For Youth
Host Annual School Safety Summit

WALTHAM – Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, in partnership with the non-profit organization, Middlesex Partnerships For Youth (MPY), presented the keynote address at MPY’s 13th Annual School Safety Summit held today at Bentley College.  The conference attracted nearly 300 school, law enforcement, and mental health workers from across Massachusetts.  Stoneham school personnel were among those in attendance.

Leone’s keynote address focused on strategies and initiatives that schools can implement to keep students safe. In particular, he highlighted the importance for schools to continue to establish a climate in which students are comfortable notifying teachers and school personnel when they believe there may be a safety threat. He also stressed the need for schools to have systems in place for students to anonymously report a threat and to develop specific Threat Assessment Teams to analyze and respond to threats to school safety.  

“The only way we can protect our students and establish a truly positive learning environment is to establish a healthy school climate,” Leone said in his remarks.  “That is why it is critical that schools establish a system in which students feel comfortable in reporting a threat and for schools to have threat assessment teams to asses and, if necessary, respond to those threats.”

Leone also presented the MPY’s “Citizenship in Action” Award, which is awarded each fall to an individual who has made a difference towards making communities safer and healthier.  This year, the award was given to Frank Molis, who works tirelessly for the City of Malden.   Molis is the Community Programs Director for the Malden YMCA, as well as oversees the Malden Youth Court program. 

Funded this year by the United States Attorney’s Office, the conference also featured US Attorney Michael Sullivan, who provided the welcoming remarks.

The program featured three nationally acclaimed school safety experts who addressed the crowd on how schools can create safe climates to prevent youth violence. The speakers were: Dr. Michael Corso, the Director of Field Services at the Quaglia Institute for Students Aspirations; Dr. Ron Slaby, developmental psychologist, educator and research scientist; and Dr. James Alan Fox, the Limpan Family Professor of Criminal Justice and Professor of Law, Policy and Society at Northeastern University. 

The conference was the largest attended MPY conference in the past decade.  

Teachers, school personnel, and law enforcement professionals from the following communities attended this conference:

·        Acton
·        Acton-Boxborough
·        Ashland
·        Ayer
·        Belmont
·        Billerica
·        Boxborough
·        Burlington
·        Cambridge
·        Concord
·        Dracut
·        Everett
·        Holliston
·        Hopkinton
·        Hudson
·        Lincoln
·        Lowell
·        Malden
·        Marlboro
·        Maynard
·        Medford
·        Nashoba Valley
·        Natick
·        Newton
·        North Reading
·        Sherborn
·        Shirley
·        Somerville
·        Stoneham
·        Sudbury
·        Tewksbury
·        Tyngsboro
·        Waltham
·        Wakefield
·        Watertown
·        Wayland
·        Westford
·        Weston
·        Wilmington
·        Winchester
·        Woburn

District Attorney Leone has made school safety a centerpiece of his administration, personally attending several Community Based Justice meetings in communities throughout the county. One of his first acts was to put all district court ADAs back in the schools, allowing his team of more than 50 attorneys to become ingrained in communities throughout the county, becoming more familiar with their students and schools, and working in partnership with them to prevent violence before it occurs.

He has launched a comprehensive effort to expand the intervention and prevention efforts, including the Community Based Justice programs, into the middle schools. Middlesex Partnerships For Youth, the office’s non-profit partner, has also expanded its prevention programs into the middle schools, providing trainings on important issues such as anti-bullying strategies, substance abuse prevention, and cyber protection.
          
MPY is a non-profit organization established in 1988 by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office to foster communication on school-related legal issues relating to substance abuse and violence.  Through Project Alliance, MPY’s primary initiative, the non-profit provides prevention and intervention resources, as well as training and programming to Middlesex school districts and communities using a combination of education, training and technical support. To address a variety of youth health and safety issues.  MPY’s membership now includes over 60 school districts.  For more information on Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. and Project Alliance, please visit www.middlesexpartnershipsforyouth.org.

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