ASSP Hawaii Chapter Hybrid Meeting

Topic What is a Threat Assessment?

Threat Assessment is a problem-solving approach to violence prevention that involves assessment and intervention with students and non-students who have threatened violence is some way. It’s a fact-based investigative approach to determine how likely a person is to carry out a threat of violence, a means to identify, investigate, assess, and manage individuals who are at risk for violence against themselves or others, and a way to identify someone who has the potential for violence in many forms – self-harm, assault, risk taking behaviors, suicide, substance abuse, and other aggressive or dangerous behaviors.

Why talk about school violence or threat assessments? Each day we hear and read about acts of violence that occur in schools and within our communities and this shakes us to our core. For every tragedy, there are many ways that students, school staff, and communities can work together to prevent these acts of targeted violence. Every act of violence is preventable if you recognize the signs.

Objectives

• Why and how to talk about and identify potential for violence.
• How to organize and complete a threat assessment for your organization.
• How to prevent violence.

The bottom line is this: a threat assessment is completed to prevent another school shooting incident (e.g., Columbine High School, Littleton, CO; Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, CT; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, FL; and Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, TX) from occurring in the Hawaii State Department of Education.

Speaker Maynard “Max” Mendoza

Max Mendoza is currently the Director of the Safety, Security, and Emergency Preparedness Branch for the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) and has been serving in this position since January 3, 2017. In this position, he directs, manages, and leads seven HIDOE employees for approximately 170,000 students, 35,000 HIDOE employees, 258 schools, 15 complex area offices, and 8 state offices. The HIDOE is the only state-wide and the twelfth largest school district in the United States.

A proactive, visionary, and lean-forward leader, he conceived, developed, and executed the first-ever Vulnerability Assessment Program ensuring the HIDOE meets national standards in school safety, security, and emergency preparedness. Additionally, he spearheaded the effort to conceive and form strong partnerships with state agencies to help develop and implement a first-ever Threat Assessment Program, a multi-disciplinary approach in assessing threats to mitigate/prevent targeted violence in schools and offices.

Before joining the HIDOE, he served over 33 years in the United States Air Force as a career security forces officer. He specialized in law enforcement, physical security, antiterrorism, force protection, vulnerability assessments, threat assessments, and integrated base defense. He is Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Army Ranger Training, and Air Force Technical Trainer certified. He has commanded a security forces squadron, mission support group, two regional support groups, and an air expeditionary group in support of both Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM. He has also served as a Chief of Security Forces for a US Air Force Major Command and has organized, trained, equipped, and deployed over 4,500 security forces personnel to Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Djibouti. Max retired from the United States Air Force in the rank of Colonel.

Max holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a Master of Science degree from Troy State University, and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the United States Army War College. He is married to the former Sandra Vargas of Brooklyn, New York. He has an adult son who is currently serving in the United States Army, at Camp Carroll, Republic of Korea, an adult daughter who resides in Austin, Texas, and a grandson.

Agenda

5:00 – 6:00 Social
6:00 – 7:00 Presentation

Virtual Call In Details