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An Invitation To Create Safe Schools From LifeChanger of the Year Brian Copes

As LifeChangers, educators are all committed to creating a positive atmosphere in our schools. That includes creating a safe, healthy environment for students to learn and teachers to work.
Unfortunately, school violence is having an increasingly negative, and often tragic, impact on our K-12 education system. The number of school shootings only continues to grow with 2018 being one of the most violent school years on record. This past spring alone, there was an average of one school shooting per week.

To address this crisis, I have joined with other teacher leaders from around the country to establish the National Coalition for Safe Schools (NCSS).

NCSS is a growing national movement founded by U.S. Varkey Teacher Ambassadors (VTAs) and other teacher leaders from throughout the United States. National Life is our founding sponsor. Our mission is to address and prevent school shootings and other extreme acts of violence by providing teacher leaders and all school employees with the knowledge, tools and resources they need to proactively keep schools safe.

To launch this national movement, NCSS is hosting a Powered by Teach to Lead Summit in March 2019 to bring together ground-level K-12 educators to share their voices, needs and ideas in order to develop proactive solutions to prevent and address school shootings. Funding and in-kind support for the summit is being provided by LifeChanger of the Year and its parent company, National Life Group.

Together, we can figure out why children are resorting to extreme acts of violence to solve their issues and develop solutions that tackle the root of the problem.

This summit is entirely teacher-led, so we need your help to make it a success.

If you’d like to attend the summit, please sign up now at this site. All applications are due by Friday, January 11th, 2019 at 5 PM EST. Registration and hotel accommodations will be provided at no cost to all applicants who are accepted to attend the summit. More details about the summit can also be found on our website, https://NotInMySchool.com.

But this won’t be your only opportunity. The National Coalition for Safe Schools will have many more resources, ideas and guidance in coming months. We will be inviting educators across the country to join our Coalition and contribute their knowledge and ideas to this important cause. So, if you’re not able to attend the summit in Birmingham, Alabama, there will be many more opportunities to participate and make a difference. Please join us!

This is part of a series of posts from nominees for our LifeChanger of the Year educator recognition program. We meet scores of fascinating LifeChangers every year who have interesting perspectives to share about children, education and life.

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