Forest Park High School hosts ‘Safe Schools Symposium’

More than 300 teachers, counselors, administrators and PWCS staff showed up at Forest Park High School on Friday, August 21st, 2015 for “Educational Intelligence: Think, Act and Spread Kindness to Achieve Success for All Student.”

This school safety symposium was a collaborative effort between the PWCS Office of Student Services and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety run by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). The symposium featured two motivational speakers: Gary Xavier, a former Marine Sniper and Marc Brackett, Ph.D., Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. The Office of Student services included the Forest Park High School students to help run the symposium. Erik Del Cid, a junior at FPHS served as the MC while the FPHS JROTC presented the colors.

“I’ve seen a lot of color guards at events such as this, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite as sharp as Forest Park’s JROTC,” commented Teresa Gooch, Division Director, Law Enforcement and Security Service at DCJS.

DJCS, working through the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety hosts school safety symposiums around the Commonwealth. PWCS was honored to have this event here in Prince William County. The event was well-attended by the senior administration, representatives from DCJS and neighboring school divisions. Also in attendance were Potomac District School Board Representative Betty Covington and Chairman of the Prince William Safe Schools Advisory Council, Tim Singstock.

“The Safe Schools Symposium held at Forest Park High School today was a big success. I commend our Student Services Department for sponsoring this wonderful event,” said Betty Covington about the event.

Speaking about the event, Tim Singstock noted that he is “happy to see the collaboration between PWCS and the Commonwealth of Virginia on school safety. This is definitely a community priority.”

Carolyn Custard, Director of the Office of Student Services closed the event with an overview of Student Services, awards and a student spotlight. Look for more collaboration between the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and PWCS on school safety in the coming school year.