The Maine Department of Education is pleased to announce the creation of The Maine School Safety Center(MSSC)! Although the MSSC is newly created, it is quickly adding staff and the ability to assist all Maine schools with their emergency planning. The primary role of the MSSC is to provide training, guidance and technical support for all things school safety and security-related. The MSSC will initially provide six lanes of service:
- Training
- Mental Health and Threat Assessment
- Site Assessment/climate assessment
- Emergency Operations planning/exercise
- School Resource Officer (policy and training)
- Legislation and police review and recommendation
The MSSC will work closely with your local, county and state EMA Directors to assist you in your planning and school’s safety needs. The current pandemic crisis has accelerated our operational time line, so we are quickly getting staff into place to be able to offer you services immediately.
Our staff consists of the following:
Jonathan J. Shapiro is our School Safety and Security Coordinator, and leads this team and supports their collaborative efforts. Contact information: Jonathan.J.Shapiro@Maine.gov, or (o) 207-624-6694 Cell 207-441-0725
Robert Susi is our School Safety and Security Specialist and is currently leading our effort to develop policy, procedures and training for our SROs. Robert also has an expertise in school emergency planning and site assessment and is able to provide support to our Planning Officer Melissa Condon. Contact information: robert.w.susi@Maine.gov or 207-441-8321.
Melissa Condon is our Emergency Operations Planning Officer and she is ready to work with you to provide training and review and/or develop your planning in response to this current ongoing pandemic crisis. She is also developing guidance for the short and long term future of schools returning to some level of operational normalcy. Working with our EMA partners we will provide training, assistance, guidance and technical support for your planning needs. Contact information: Melissa.A.Condon@Maine.gov or (207) 446-0862.
Dr. Karen Barnes is our Threat Assessment/Mental Health Officer, and is available to address any questions you may have regarding Threat Assessment. Karen is developing a threat assessment model for Maine, and is working with experts in this field to assure the best model possible is developed for our schools. Karen is our Mental Health liaison coordinating efforts between the Maine DOE and the various other mental health providers in the state. Contact Information: Karen.A.Barnes@maine.gov or Cell (207) 446-0713.
We look forward to working with you! Please feel free to contact us with questions or concerns.
Supporting Schools – Protecting our Future!