From left, Sheriff Craig Roberts; Jada Rupley, superintendent of Clackamas ESD; and Matt Utterback, superintendent of North Clackamas School District.
In a strategy to deepen positive working relationships between social services, law enforcement and schools, the Inaugural School Safety Summit invited school administrators from across Clackamas County to learn from experts in suicide prevention, the SafeOregon tip line, threat assessment and more.
“Relationships are critical to keeping students safe, and today’s summit is a step toward building the bridges that help us provide safe and secure learning environments,” says Jada Rupley, superintendent of Clackamas Education Service District.
In a nod to the importance of relationships, Matt Utterback, superintendent of North Clackamas School District, and Sheriff Craig Roberts shared the headline keynote. As the 2017 National Superintendent of the Year, Utterback began his career teaching in North Clackamas in 1989. Roberts, also a longtime public servant in the county, started as a Sheriff’s Office reserve deputy in 1979. Both spoke to their long standing partnership and close ties.
“I believe working together, we can make Oregon schools safer,” said Sheriff Craig Roberts, chair of the Oregon Task Force on School Safety. “Our relationships with educators, mental health professionals, and juvenile justice personnel are critical as we strive to improve school safety.”
The Clackamas County School Safety Summit came to fruition a year after the Clackamas County Juvenile and Health, Housing, and Human Services, the Sheriff’s Office and Clackamas Education Service District formalized a working relationship and objective to assist county schools as they identify, evaluate and improve outcomes for students who present a potential risk of violence or self harm. This interagency partnership serves and engages eight school districts, a growing number of independent schools, and over 15 nonprofit and government agencies.
