Preventing violence, protecting mental health focus of 22nd Annual Safe Schools Initiative Seminar

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Educators, law enforcement, first responders, mental health professionals and other school-safety stakeholders, including parents and guardians, are invited to attend the 22nd Annual Safe Schools Initiative Seminar to learn new practical strategies to help ensure student safety and development.

When: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18.

Where: Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre on the University at Buffalo’s North Campus.

The seminar, “From Threat Assessment to Digital Tech: Protecting Students in a Changing World,” is a forum for school safety stakeholders to learn about important topics tied to protecting children, schools and communities.

Presented by the Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation (ECLEF), it is free event that will be accessible both in-person and virtually. Registration is required. To register, visit the ECLEF Safe Schools webpage.

UB is a founding sponsor and has participated continuously in the planning of the event since its inception in 2004. The seminar’s planning members include UB Chief of Police Kimberly Beaty; Amanda Nickerson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the executive director of the UB Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention; Brie Kishel, program and operations manager at the Alberti Center; and Bill Regan, retired director of university events and current ECLEF chair.

"For more than a decade, the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention has been proud to partner on the Safe Schools Initiative Seminar, bringing together educators, researchers, law enforcement, and community leaders to strengthen school safety and student well-being," says Nickerson.

She adds: "This timely seminar will provide a comprehensive overview of emerging research on the impact of social media, technology, and artificial intelligence on adolescent development along with important insights on warning signs that may precede acts of violence. Learning from experts such as Mitch Prinstein, Eva Telzer, and Jaclyn Schildkraut, will help equip schools and communities with practical, research-informed strategies to better support prevention and intervention efforts.” 

Prinstein and Telzer, co-directors of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development, will deliver a session titled “Social Media, AI, Technology, and Adolescent Mental Health.” Its aim is to provide an understanding of how social media, technology and AI use impact adolescent psychological, social and neural development. 

“Our presentation will address ‘How do you raise a child in 2026?’ It will include a review of the current state of the science examining whether, why, and how technology may be changing youth development so that every school and family can make informed decisions and ensure that children have the best chance for success,” says Prinstein, immediate-past chief of psychology strategy and integration of the American Psychological Association.

The seminar’s second presentation, “Understanding the Threat Landscape Preceding Mass Public Shootings,” will be delivered by Schildkraut, executive director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium.

The presentation draws from the institute’s Sharing Information to Stop Mass Shootings (SISMS) project, which contains more than 136,000 pages of official police and court records, as well as after-action reports, for 172 mass public shootings between 1999 and 2024. In it, warning behaviors and communications – what they call “leakage” – are identified that not only preceded these incidents but often occurred simultaneously, creating a perfect storm for indicators of impending violence.

Founding sponsors include the U.S. Secret Service, Buffalo Field Office; the University at Buffalo’s Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention; the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York; and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, New York Office.

The seminar also receives support from longtime partner sponsor Utica National Insurance Group. New partner sponsors include the New York State Parent Teacher Association and the Myszka Family Foundation. David Zebro is a stakeholder sponsor.

Benefactor sponsors include the Better Business Bureau, Kevin Clarke, Conax Technologies, Barbara & David Elias, Patrick P. Lee and the West Herr Automotive Group. Community sponsors include Michael Brummer, Erie County District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Leadership Group.

A full description of the event’s topics and speakers is available on the ECLEF website.