Authors
SafeSchools courses are authored by leading practitioners with school safety expertise. You can be confident that our content is tested and accurate.
Author Bios pdf
JoLynn Carney, Ph.D., LPCC, Penn State University
Author, Bullying and Conflict Management
Dr. JoLynn Carney is a faculty member in the Department of Counseling at Penn State University and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. Her research and publications focus on the areas of youth violence, peer-on-peer abuse, and adolescent suicide. She publishes and leads local, regional, and national trainings and workshops on these topics.
Michael Dorn , M.S., FBI National Academy
Author, Crisis Recovery; Emergency Operations Planning; Family Reunification; and Tactical Site Surveys
Michael Dorn is one of the most credentialed, experienced, highly respected and most trusted school safety experts in the nation. Selected as the world’s top school safety expert by Jane’s after an international search, Michael has authored and co-authored twenty books on school safety and has three more books due for publication. Michael has also authored hundreds of articles as well as columns for School Planning and Management, Campus Safety, Today’s School, School Transportation News and College Planning and Management magazines.
A graduate of the prestigious three month FBI National Academy, Dartmouth College’s Advanced Russian Language Immersion Program and Bachelor’s and Master’s programs at Mercer University, Michael also received fourteen days of intensive antiterrorism and counterterrorism training from the Israel Police, Israel Defense Forces and the Mossad through the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange Program at Georgia State University.
Art Dunham, Doctorate in Food Service (NAFEM/Purdue); M.S. Food Service Management
Author, Foodborne Illnesses; Food Safety & Kitchen Sanitation; Food Service Equipment: Sanitation; Food Service Equipment: Safe Use; HACCP; and School Meal Compliance
Art Dunham served as President of the Florida School Food Service Association from 2003-2004 and is now the Secretary/Treasurer of the School Nutrition Association. Art currently holds the titles of Certified Food Service Professional and School Nutrition Specialist. While teaching Hotel/Tourism courses at the Schiller International University, Art is also the Assistant Director of school food services at Pinellas County Schools and serves as a member of the International Association of Food Protection.
Art received his master's degree in food service management from the New York University in 1986 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Food Service (DFS) from the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) in 2007.
Janell Eastman, M.Ed, BSN, BS, RN, Granite School District
Author, AED; CPR; First Aid; Health Emergencies: Allergies, Diabetes, Hemophilia, Overview, and Seizures
Janell Eastman is a district nurse with responsibility for over 8,300 students in 11 schools. Her past experience includes Surgical Nursing, Public Health Case Management and Occupational Health Administration. Janell developed, implemented and now manages the district’s Bloodborne Disease Prevention program for all at-risk employees. She has designed multiple presentations now used throughout the district for student and faculty education. Janell graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelors degree in Consumer Economics and from Westminster College with a Bachelors degree in Nursing and received her Masters of Education from Cambridge College.
Ted Finlayson-Schueler, Doctoral Candidate, Syracuse - Founder, Safety Rules!
Author, School Bus Behavior and Discipline
Ted Finlayson-Schueler is the founder of Safety Rules! which is dedicated to safe travel for children to and from school and school activities. Ted also founded the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute (PTSI) in Syracuse, New York in 1990 and served as its Executive Director until 2004. During the 10 years from 1994 to 2004, Ted grew PTSI into a national organization serving the pupil transportation community.
Ted holds a Master of Science Degree from Syracuse University. He is currently a candidate for the doctoral program in the School of Education, Disability Studies Program at Syracuse University.
Patrick Fitzpatrick, Dir. of Risk Management, Northshore School District ; President, Compass Driving
Author, City Driving; Defensive Driving; Road Rage; and Winter Driving
Patrick Fitzpatrick is a fifteen-year veteran of the Washington State Patrol where he served in many capacities including Police Pursuit Academy Instructor and Safety Education Officer and won acclaim for his innovative programs and public education courses. Currently serving as Director of Risk Management, Safety, and Security Services for the Northshore (Washington) School District, Patrick is President of "Compass - A New Direction In Driving", a LLC that provides vehicle operator training systems to both the public and private sector throughout the United States and Canada.
Joseph Guth, Ph.D., CIH, President, Scientific and Forensic Services, Inc.
Author, Asbestos Awareness
Involved in basic and applied research for over 30 years, Dr. Guth is a nationally recognized expert in industrial hygiene, especially indoor air quality. He has trained many people in the hazards, assessment and abatement of asbestos, molds, mildews, and overall indoor air quality. In his role as an indoor air quality specialist, Dr. Guth has served as a consultant, trainer, and evaluator for business, government, schools, and the military. With this expertise, he also serves as an expert witness in insurance and litigation claims.
Dr. Guth received both his B.S and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mary Haag, R.N., OCPS I
Author, Student Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Mary Haag has been licensed as a registered since 1975. She is experienced in bringing diverse sectors of the community together to create and implement comprehensive, collaborative approaches to substance abuse prevention. Ms. Haag holds an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist I certification and has been working in the field of substance abuse prevention since 1995. She currently serves as President of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Association of Ohio, Vice President of Coalition Strategies for the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, and Federal Peer Grant Reviewer for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. During her tenure with the Coalition, she has successfully developed over thirty locally-based community anti-drug coalitions, and provides oversight and direction for all programmatic activities of the Coalition.
Jeffrey K. Hafen, Ph.D., Director of Support Staff Training and Development, Clark County School District
Author, Diversity Awareness
Dr. Hafen is currently the Director of Support Staff Training and Development for the Clark County School District. His professional experience encompasses three decades in the training field. Dr. Hafen has a liberal arts undergraduate degree and earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Marriott School of Management. Dr. Hafen continued his formal education completing a Ph. D. in Educational Administration in Business, Industry, and Government at Brigham Young University.
Richard Hazler, Ph.D., Penn State University
Author, Bullying and Conflict Management
Dr. Richard Hazler is a Professor of Counselor Education at Penn State University. He is particularly well known for his work in the areas of bullying, peer-on-peer abuse, and youth violence. He has published numerous professional articles and three books, including Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Interventions for Bullying and Victimization (1996), and appeared on national television programs such as ABC 20/20 and NBC Dateline.
Steve Holland, M.A., Scenario Learning, former Publisher - Computer Education, South-Western Educational Publishing
Author, Online Safety: Cyberbullying, Overview, Predators, and Threats of Violence
Steve Holland is the founder and president of Holland & Associates, a Georgia-based consulting firm that provides safety & communications services to schools and business nationally. Steve is a former information executive and consultant with notable organizations such as The Thomson Corporation, Scenario Learning, and CNN. While at CNN, Steve was instrumental in the launch of CNNfyi.com, one of the nation’s first Internet-base forums for teens.
Susan Hudson, Ph.D., Educational Director, National Program for Playground Safety
Author, Playground Maintenance & Inspection
The National Program for Playground Safety is a non-profit organization committed to improving the safety of playgrounds for children. Widely recognized as the leading experts on playground safety, NPPS routinely provides training, safety assessment, certification, and other consulting services for school districts and municipalities across North America.
Elizabeth R. Ison, J.D. – The Ison Law Group
Author, Sexual Harassment: Policy and Prevention
Elizabeth R. Ison, J.D., has spent seventeen years representing employers in employment matters. As president of The Ison Law Group in Sacramento, she offers advice and training to local, national and international employers in the areas of labor and employment law. She is a frequent lecturer on employment topics and has published many articles relating to this topic in a variety of regional and national publications. Additionally, Elizabeth conducts training for organizations in the area of sexual harassment and discrimination, and she conducts objective workplace investigations when an employer is faced with a charge of harassment or discrimination.
Carol Jones, RN, M.S., Peninsula School District
Author, Health Emergencies: Asthma Awareness; HIV/AIDS Awareness
Carol Jones has been a school nurse in the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor, Washington for over 20 years. She also serves as the lead nurse and coordinates health and safety training programs for district employees. Carol has additional experience as an emergency department nurse, a public health nurse, and as a medical-surgical instructor in a diploma nursing program.
Steve Lyons, Loss Control Consultant, Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust
Author, General Safety Orientation
Steve Lyons is a Loss Control Consultant for the Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust. The Trust is a cooperative pool of self-insured school districts for workers' compensation insurance coverage. Steve has over six years of direct OSHA/WISHA compliance and loss control experience and holds an Associate in Risk Management degree from the Insurance Institute of America.
Eve Pearl, M.Ed., Executive Director, Council on Child Abuse of Southern Ohio
Author, Child Abuse
Eve Pearl is the Executive Director of the Council on Child Abuse of Southern Ohio, Inc. In this role since 1980, Eve oversees resource development, planning, implementation, and management of all aspects of the agency. She graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelors degree in Education and received her Master of Education degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Eve is a Certified Trainer by the State of Ohio in Child Abuse Prevention In-service Training for preschool teachers and daycare providers. She also provides training and consulting services for numerous parent, professional, and community groups on child abuse prevention and related issues. Eve currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Hamilton County Violence Prevention Project, and she is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati.
Mike Peterman, Official, Cincinnati Fire Department
Author, Fire Extinguisher Safety
Mike Peterman is a Cincinnati Fire Department Official and a liaison to the Cincinnati Public Schools for development and Code consultation. He has served on teams including Hazmat Unit, Bomb Squad, Firefighter, and Emergency Medical Technician. Mike has also completed extensive coursework with the US EPA, the NFPA, the US DOJ, and the Ohio Dept. of Commerce.
George Phelps, CFI, Wolf Technical Services
Author, Arson Awareness and Prevention
George Phelps is a Fire Investigation Specialist with expertise in fire analysis, origin and cause investigations of residential and commercial structures, and of all types of vehicles. Along with serving as a school specialist in fire safety, he has 32 years in the fire service with over twenty years experience working as a Fire Investigator with the Cincinnati Fire Department. He has been involved in fire inspections and code enforcements, interviewing and interrogating of suspects, and has testified extensively as an expert witness. Additionally, he has participated in numerous training programs, both as an attendee and as an instructor, and was instrumental in bringing about much-improved communication and cooperation between fire, police, and insurance investigators in auto fire and auto theft investigations. George has been involved in the passage of important arson legislation in the Ohio House and Senate, as well as assisting with the passage of many bills on the national level that provided funding and grants for the fire service and fire investigation community. He is now working with Wolf Technical Services as a Fire Consultant and Investigator.
Scott Poland, Ed.D.
Author, Youth Suicide: Awareness & Prevention; Youth Suicide: Postvention
Dr. Scott Poland is an internationally recognized expert on school psychology issues related to violence prevention and crisis response. Dr. Poland is the former President of the National Association of School Psychologists and serves as Chairman of its National Emergency Assistance Team. He also retired as the Director of Psychological Services for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston, Texas, and is the former Executive Director of National School Psychologists Association.
Mary Schoenfeldt, Owner Schoenfeldt & Associates
Author, Incident Command Systems
Mary Schoenfeldt is the author of several books on Crisis Response, has served as the subject matter expert for an acclaimed interactive software program called Aftermath; School Edition, and has written numerous magazine articles for publications such as National School Safety Journal, Student Assistance Journal, and Pittsburgh Parent Magazine. She has contributed to publications and acted as Advisor to U.S. Department of Education, State of California, State of Kentucky, State of Washington and has been interviewed by USA Today, the Good Morning America television show and various violence prevention and school safety newsletters and publications. She is a sought after speaker, trainer and consultant.
Sonayia Shepherd, Ph.D., Public Administrations
Author, Crisis Recovery; Emergency Operations Planning; Family Reunification; Pandemic Flu; and Tactical Site Surveys
Sonayia N. Shepherd (or Sony for short) has authored and co-authored sixteen books on school safety and emergency management, including four books for Jane’s, the highly regarded British defense, intelligence and school safety publisher. She currently serves as an incident response team member for an international government terrorism response unit and has deployed across the United States as well as to numerous countries including Switzerland, Thailand, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Angola, South Africa, and India. With an extensive background including serving as a full time school safety practitioner in the nation’s largest state government school safety center, Sony has worked directly with hundreds of public and private schools across the nation and has provided crisis response and recovery support following many school crisis situations and major disasters around the world.
Graduating from high school at the age of 16, she has earned two graduate degrees in Clinical Psychology and Human Ecology from Cameron University in Oklahoma and earned her undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Spanish from Phillips University. She recently received her Ph.D. in Public Administration & Emergency Response Policy.
Robert J. Shoop, Educational Law Expert, Kansas State University
Author, Sexual Misconduct: Staff-to-Student
Robert J. Shoop, educational law expert at Kansas State University, is nationally recognized as a forensic expert in the area of school law, with a focus on sexual harassment, abuse prevention and risk management. He has appeared as a guest on CNN, the Today Show, 20/20, and MSNBC, among many other programs. Shoop is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Educator’s Guide to Controlling Sexual Harassment and has served as a forensic expert witness in more than 45 court cases. He is the author or co-author of 16 books.
Karl Sommer III, M.S. Industrial Hygiene
Author, Back Injury & Lifting; Bloodborne Pathogens; Ergonomics; Hazard Communications; Hearing Loss Prevention; Ladder Safety; Lockout/Tagout; MSDS; Slip, Trips and Falls; and Transportation Safety
Karl Sommer III has over 14 years of safety experience including acting as Executive Director of the Columbus (OH) Chamber of Commerce Safety Council and the National Safety Council Central Ohio Chapter. His responsibilities included the coordination/presentation of numerous training courses and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Workers' Comp group rating program. Karl holds a MS in Safety and Health Management from West Virginia University.
Randy Sprick, Ph.D. – President, Pacific Northwest Publishing
Author, Disruptive Student Behavior
Randy Sprick is an educational consultant and teacher trainer. He conducts workshops helping school staff set up classrooms that encourage responsibility and motivation, while effectively helping students learn to behave in more responsible ways.
Eva Caseman Stone, ARNP
Author, CPR
Eva Stone is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner and serves as the School Health Coordinator for Lincoln County Schools in Kentucky. She directs the district-coordinated school health program, supervises RN’s and LPN’s in the schools, and oversees emergency response planning and the district OSHA bloodborne pathogens program. She teaches CPR and First Aid classes, as well as other health classes for staff. She has served on taskforces with the Kentucky Department of Education, Department for Public Health and Kentucky School Boards association. She is a certified CPR instructor and Medtronic insulin pump trainer, as well as a presenter for the National Association of School Nurses.
Suzan Tibbitts, MSN, RN, Granite School District
Author, AED; CPR; First Aid; Health Emergencies: Allergies, Diabetes, Hemophilia, Overview, and Seizures;
Suzan Tibbitts is a school nurse in Utah. She is directly responsible for the health care of over 9,000 students, project manager of the Vaccine for Children program, and the School Nurse Services Webmaster in the Granite School District. As only one of a handful of nationally recognized School Nurse Asthma Management Program (SNAMP) trainers in the Western United States, she has presented SNAMP to over 100 school nurses. She also is employed by PEGUS Research, Inc., a Salt Lake City based research firm, where she is a Serious Adverse Event Clinician. Suzan graduated from Westminster College with a Bachelors degree in Nursing and received her Masters of Nursing in Health Care Administration and Education from the University of Phoenix.
Paul Timm, PSP, President of RETA Security
Author, Crime Prevention through Physical Security
Paul Timm is a board-certified Physical Security Professional through ASIS International. He was in the first group ever to test for and obtain this credential. Paul is a trained and experienced School Crisis Assistance Team (SCAT) member employing the methodology of the National Organization for Victims Assistance (NOVA). He currently serves on the Illinois Terrorism Talk Force (ITTF) and was an ASIS International Regional Certification Award winner in '04 and '05. Paul is certified in Vulnerability Assessment Methodology (VAM-CF) through Sandia National Laboratories.
James Vaughan, President, Today's Resources Inc.
Author, Back Injury & Lifting; Bloodborne Pathogens; Ergonomics; Hazard Communications; Hearing Loss Prevention; Ladder Safety; Lockout/Tagout; MSDS; Personal Protective Equipment; Slip, Trips and Falls; and Transportation Safety
James Vaughan is president of Today's Resources, Inc. (TRI), a full-service safety and health consulting firm. Jim has over 30 years of direct OSHA compliance and loss-control experience and holds a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Eastern Kentucky University.
Bryan Visscher, Director of Maintenance and Operations, Wenatchee School District
Author, Electrical Safety; Fall Protection
Bryan Visscher is Director of Maintenance and Operations for the Wenatchee School District in central Washington. He is also a recognized leader in the area of Energy Efficiency for school districts, winning the coveted national Energy Star designation for his district. Bryan is also a skilled writer, and is also active in WASBO and WAMOA.
Jennifer Watson, Doctoral Candidate – Consultant, SafeSchools America, Inc.
Author, Sexual Harassment: Staff, Students, and Refresher
Jennifer Watson has designed and presented sexual harassment training for school districts in three states and has worked to facilitate the development of a comprehensive sexual harassment policy in numerous school districts. Jennifer has also coordinated and conducted numerous two-day trainings in many states on crisis response, safety and security, safety planning, and bullying for school administrators, district office personnel, guidance counselors, teachers, emergency community responders, and business executives.
Jennifer holds a Bachelors degree in Communications from the University of Kentucky and serves as a consultant for Safe Schools America, Inc. She is currently a candidate for the doctoral program in Educational Psychology at UK.
Robert Watson, Ph.D., President and Founder, Safe Schools America, Inc.
Author, School Intruders and School Violence & Weapons
Besides conducting training, consulting, and information programs throughout the country, Dr. Watson has authored numerous articles, videos, and books, including The School as a Safe Haven, which examines school safety from a historical perspective. Dr. Watson was a teacher and administrator for over 25 years, serving eight years as a school superintendent. His first book, Containing Crisis (a school safety planning book), was based on his experience from the 1988 school shooting in Greenwood, SC, where he was then superintendent of schools.
