Dear Valued OSROA Membership,
We are writing to you today to announce that one of our keynote speakers, Retired Sheriff David Clarke, will not be presenting at our 2022 School Safety Conference.
David was under contract to speak for two hours on law enforcement issues. The OSROA board voted in favor of bringing him in based on his popularity with his constituents, his success as a leader in law enforcement, and his unabashed support for police officers around the United States. He has been outspoken in recent years about cops dealing with post-traumatic stress and the unseen epidemic of police suicide.
David is, of course, somewhat famous for his political views. Those views, along with some of his past statements in the media, resounded strongly with people here in Oregon. While we never give our conference presenters a platform to talk about their personal political views, David’s politics have caused a number of Oregonians to reach out to OSROA and express their desire to not see us host David at our conference.
OSROA has never been, and will never be, a political organization. OSROA cares about two things – Safe Schools and Safe Kids in Oregon. If any presenter, in the eyes of some, is going to damage our credibility and/or ability to fulfill that mission, then we will make the necessary changes.
After careful consideration of these factors, the OSROA board voted unanimously yesterday to cancel David Clarke’s presentation. A replacement will be named at a later date.
We sincerely want to thank all of OSROA’s faithful supporters since our inception in 2003. We continue to be dedicated in strengthening the collaborative work with Oregon educators in the safety and security of all Oregon students. Although many Oregon SRO programs have been impacted in recent years, please know that your OSROA board will continue to work diligently to support Oregon SRO programs and provide quality best practice school safety training for educators and law enforcement in our state.
Thank you.
Mike Jackson
OSROA President
Rick Puente
OSROA Vice President
INTRODUCING OUR 2022 OSROA SCHOOL SAFETY CONFERENCE PRESENTERS:
Molly Bradley Hudgens
Pleasant View, TN
Molly Hudgens is a school counselor and a member of the Crisis Management and Leadership Teams at Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View, TN. Her study on school shootings, “Recognizing Red Flags,” has been used nationally to train educators and law enforcement, focusing on understanding school shooters and how to use threat assessment intervention to prevent violent acts. Molly put her training to use in 2016 when she talked a student with a loaded handgun out of committing a mass shooting at her school. Hudgens became a Congressional Medal of Honor Citizens Honor recipient for this Act of Heroism in 2017. She is also the 2017 recipient of the Tennessee School Counseling Association’s Phoebe White Award for Excellence in School Counseling and the 2019 Mental Health of the Midsouth’s I.C. Hope Award for bringing mental health awareness to schools. Molly has been an educator for 21 years.
Byron Boston
Dallas, TX
Byron served 20 years with the Dallas Police Department. He spent over 14 years undercover in the Narcotics Division and five years with the FBI task force, investigating drug cartels. Employing some unconventional undercover techniques, he helped arrest more than 200 gang members and helped solve several overdose death cases. Byron was nominated for Dallas Police Officer of the Year. Byron retired in 2017 but he remains a Reserve Officer with DPD, where he works with the Criminal Intelligence Unit. He has also been a training instructor at the national level for 14 years, training military, federal, state and local law enforcement officers across the USA and Canada. Byron will be presenting on 21st Century Policing, touching on mindset, training, situational awareness, reaction and preparation. He will also touch on diversity, equity and inclusion.
OSROA is comprised of dedicated professionals committed to providing service, training, and support to our school communities by fostering safe, secure, and healthy learning environments for our youth.
2022 SCHOOL SAFETY CONFERENCE SPONSORS
The OSROA board works hard every year to provide quality training while keeping our conference affordable. We want to recognize and thank our 2022 sponsors:
Verkada is the leader in cloud-based enterprise building security. By building high-end hardware on an intuitive, cloud-based software platform, modern enterprises are able to run safer, smarter buildings across all of their locations. More than 5,000 organizations, including 28 Fortune 500 companies, use Verkada to protect people and assets, secure facilities, and gain new insights that improve the efficiency of their operations. Verkada’s vision is to be the operating system that runs every building in the world. www.verkada.com
Verkada is a 2022 PLATINUM level sponsor
TC Chevy is a locally-owned dealership in Ashland. The full-service dealership, which has been operating since 1985, offers a no-pressure hassle-free shopping experience, selling both new and pre-owned vehicles, and they are one of the leading Chevrolet dealers in Southern Oregon. OSROA is excited to welcome TC Chevy as a partner and we appreciate their commitment to safer schools and safer kids! www.tcchevy.com
TC Chevy is a 2022 BRONZE level sponsor
Is your organization interested in sponsoring our conference?
Email us at contact.osroa@yahoo.com
WHAT IS OSROA ALL ABOUT?
The Oregon School Resource Officers Association was founded in 2003 as a member-supported, professional 501©(3) non-profit organization. OSROA exists to support law enforcement agencies and school districts in the State Of Oregon, and to provide resources and training opportunities to help maintain a safer, healthier school environment for students, faculty and guests. Members include sworn law enforcement officers, administrators, juvenile justice professionals and school district employees.
Membership
Membership is attained by submitting an application for membership or by attending our Annual School Safety Conference. There is no charge to become an OSROA member.
PRESIDENT MIKE JACKSON
As OSROA president, I make it my priority to ensure that this association continues to offer the highest quality training, stays financially solvent and remains the go-to school law reference for SRO’s and educators in Oregon. We take pride in making our school safety conference informative and fun. It is my honor and privilege to serve the men and women of OSROA and I hope that you will take some time to peruse our website and learn about us. Feel free to contact us at contact.osroa@yahoo.com if you have any questions or are interested in supporting OSROA with a tax deductible financial donation.
Copyright 2019 OSROA
OSROA / Medford Police Department
411 West 8th Street
Medford, OR 97501
contact.osroa@yahoo.com