Gabriela Baeza San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE)
Gabriela joined SDCOE in November of 1999 as a member of the Safe Schools Unit. Currently, she is the Project Specialist for three violence prevention programs serving three school districts. Meeting the criteria of the grant-funded programs, Gabriela assists schools with the implementation of youth prevention programs, school safety plans, crisis response, and violence prevention strategies. She also provides workshops and training in gang awareness, human trafficking, teen relationship violence, female aggression, teen prostitution, and school safety to teachers, administrators and community-based organizations. Gabriela also provides prevention/intervention groups for high-risk students at select school sites. She is well versed in violence prevention issues and has written several successful grant applications totaling over 1.4 million dollars. Gabriela has a Master of Public Administration with an Emphasis in Criminology and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and Sociology from San Diego State University.
Lt. Mike Baray
Mike Baray has been a police officer 25 years and is currently a police lieutenant with the Murrieta Police Department in Riverside County, CA. Lieutenant Baray is assigned to the Investigations Bureau, which includes the department's school resource officer (SRO) program. Lt. Baray has over 15years investigative experience as a detective, detective sergeant and Lieutenant. He also has over 12-years of experience as a SWAT team member.Prior to Murrieta PD, Lt Baray worked 10-years for the Long Beach Police Department, where he was assigned to the Metropolitan Division and Special Investigations Division, as a detective and member of their SWAT team.
Fred Becker, Director Becker Institute Inc.
Fred Becker is a licensed professional educator with over 34 years of experience working with adolescents and parents as a classroom instructor, special projects trainer and program director. He has been instrumental in the development and implementation of programs in the areas of substance abuse, violence, multicultural relationships, parent involvement, character development and adult/child relationships. Fred has developed a life skills program, “Psychology of Effective Living” for the San Diego Unified School District, two highly successful violence prevention programs called “The Game” and “Special Names” and comprehensive substance abuse program grades for 6-12 collaboration with law enforcement and the medical community. He is also the founder of ROAR Inc.
Michele Bennett
Michele Bennett has a background in science and genetic counseling and holds dual masters degrees, MS in Genetic Counseling and MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. Michele is currently working as a Family Therapist for Phoenix House – San Diego, providing therapeutic services to adolescents and their families. Michele also serves as an Outreach Specialist for Phoenix House San Diego.
Valisa Brown, Deputy Probation Officer San Diego County Probation
Valisa Brown is currently a Deputy Probation Officer with San Diego County Probation. She worked in juvenile field services for seven years and recently moved to adult field services. In 2005, Valisa Brown was certified to teach the GREAT Program. Since becoming a GREAT Officer, Valisa has taught and implemented the program at various schools and after school programs throughout San Diego County.
Robert Burt
Robert Burt is a member of Teen Line Suicide Prevention Speaking Panel. Community involved, he is a member of Compassionate Friends, and former chairman of the Board of Los Angeles Chapter of the National Council for Drug and Alcohol Abuse. He is also a National speaker on grief, suicide, and substance abuse.
John Bryon, Intervention Specialist Vista Community Clinic Terry Sue Canale, Responsible Gambling Program Manager Division of Gambling Control, California Department of Justice
Terri Sue Canale is the Responsible & Charitable Gambling Program Manager within the Department of Justice, Division of Gambling Control. Terri Sue began her State service career with the California Department of Corrections 15 years ago, where she served in the human resources field for 7 years. In 1999 she transferred to the Division, and initially worked in the Administrative Section. Terri Sue received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in the year 2000. While serving as the regulations coordinator for the Division, she was responsible for writing many of the first cardroom gambling rules published in the California Code of Regulations. In May of 2005, she was appointed as the manager of the new Responsible Gambling Program within the Division. In addition, Terri Sue manages the Charitable Gambling Program, created through legislation in January 2007, and the Division’s Research, Regulations, and Legislative Programs. Terri Sue is involved with both the California and National Council’s on Problem Gambling (NCPG), and serves as a member of the California Office of Problem Gambling’s Advisory Board. Terri Sue has been a member of the North American Gaming Regulators Association (NAGRA) since 2001. In July 2006, she was elected to the NAGRA Board of Directors, where she is currently serving the Western Region. Terri Sue has participated as a speaker at the NCPG Conference, NAGRA Conference, CSROA Conference, National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) Meeting, Golden State Gaming Association Meetings, Tribal-State Association Meetings, and testified in front of the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee regarding Problem Gambling.
Anthony Ceja, Coordinator San Diego County Office of Education
Anthony Ceja is the Coordinator for the School Community Policing Partnership Program (SCPP) and the School Community Violence Prevention Program (SCVP) in the San Diego County Office of Education. Within both SCPP and SCVP, Anthony develops and coordinates gang prevention and intervention programs for “at-risk/high-potential” students in eleven school sites and four community centers. He is the high school trainer for students participating in FORCE 8, a youth leadership, conflict resolution program for youth. He provides school safety reviews throughout the County of San Diego, and he also provides gang and violence prevention presentations in English and Spanish for parents, staff and community members. After receiving his Masters in Social Work from San Francisco State University in 1994, Anthony has worked in the area of gang and violence prevention among youth for the last twelve years within the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego County. (Co-presenters: Debbie De Los Santos is a Supervising Parole Agent, Mayra Nuņez with Tariq Khamisa Foundation, and Hector Meza, SDCOE Safe Schools Unit). (Panel: Pierre Alexander, Ronald Galido, and Kenneth Biggs)
Sally Cox, Executive Director Crime Stoppers, San Diego
Sally Cox is the Executive Director of San Diego County Crime Stoppers a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping law enforcement solve crime in San Diego. San Diego County Crime Stoppers has helped to solve more than 3,500 crimes over the past 23 years; including 94 homicides. Crime Stoppers is a community-based, membership organization that serves as a bridge between the public, law enforcement, and the media to make San Diego County safer. Mrs. Cox has a 12-year career with nonprofit organizations, including Father Joe’s Villages, San Pasqual Academy, and the United Way of San Diego County. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from CSU Sacramento. She volunteers as a mentor to youth in foster care.
Carla Cruise
Carla Cruise has been a school psychologist for 14 years and for the last 7 years as the trainer/coordinator for San Bernardino USD's crisis response team. She is a certified trainer for National Association of School Psychologist's PREPaRE crisis intervention and recovery. She regularly consults with and supports the district's police department, is a Street Team Member for the city of San Bernardino's Operation Phoenix, a partner with San Bernardino Fire Department's in the Juvenile Fire Setter Program (JFSP). She is a regular instructor on student behavior at the San Bernardino County Sheriff's regional training center for SRO and Campus Security officers. She has provided in-services and trainings for numerous school districts within Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. She is also an adjunct Professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside CA.
Justin Cunningham, Coordinator San Diego County Office of Education
With a thirty-two year background as a teacher, coach, and administrator at the elementary through university levels, Dr. Cunningham has also worked in rural as well as urban schools. He was the Chair of the Writing Committee for the 1993 Health Framework for California Public Schools. In1999 the California Department of Education identified Justin as a Distinguished Educator for his work in improving student learning. With such a wide range of perspectives, Dr. Cunningham is sought internationally as a staff developer in the areas of brain research, integrated curriculum, health issues, and as a facilitator of strategic planning. Currently he is Coordinator of Small School District Services for the San Diego County Office of Education, and also an Adjunct Professor at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Arthur Cummins, Crisis Response Network Coordinator Orange County Department of Education
Arthur A. Cummins, Ed.D. currently serves as the Administrator of Safe & Healthy Schools within the Orange County Department of Education. He has served as classroom teacher and school site administrator in both high school and middle school for over 17 years. He is a regional coordinator for the School & Law Enforcement Partnership and serves on committee for many other statewide safe school initiatives.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is an internationally recognized scholar, author, soldier, and
speaker who is one of the world's foremost experts in the field of human aggression and the roots of violence and violent crime. Col. Grossman is a West Point psychology professor, Professor of Military Science, and an Army Ranger who has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, which has been termed “killology.” In this new field Col. Grossman has made revolutionary new contributions to our understanding of killing in war, the psychological costs of war, the root causes of the current "virus" of violent crime that is raging around the world, and the process of healing the victims of violence, in war and peace.
Deputy Craig Hampton Riverside County Sherriff
Deputy Craig Hampton is a 29 year veteran of law enforcement. Twenty years serving with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. His assignments have included Custody, Patrol and nearly 11 years in school assignments. He is a founding member of the California School Resource Officers’ Association and served as its first president. His current assignment is as a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Rubidoux High School in the Jurupa Unified School District. Currently, he is serving as the President of CSROA and also serves as the Treasurer for the Riverside Sheriff's Association. He is married to Renee and lives in the Jurupa area with their seven children, some of which are foster children.
Dr. Bernard James, Professor of Law Pepperdine University
Dr. Bernard James is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he obtained both his undergraduate and law degrees. He joined the Pepperdine faculty in 1984 after serving in Michigan as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Judge Myron Wahls for the Court of Appeals. He teaches courses in Federalism, Individual Rights, First Amendment Education Law, and State Constitutional Law. He also teaches education law to doctoral candidates at the Pepperdine Graduate School for Education. Dr. James is the Special Counsel to the National School Safety Center, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and Education and Pepperdine, and serves as the First Amendment Contributing Editor on the ABA Preview Journal, which reviews the cases of the U.S. Supreme Court. He also regularly provides an analysis of court decisions for Los Angeles talk-radio stations KABC, KCBS, and KGIL.
Officer Jim Johnson
Officer Jim Johnson is the San Diego Police Department Coordinator for Crime Stoppers. He has been with the department for more than 13 years. He has a degree in Public Administration from San Diego State University.
Sara Kaminski, Manager Safety & Emergency Preparedness Orange County Department of Education
Sara coordinates emergency and disaster preparedness for the school programs within Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) and manages the safety programs. She acts as a liaison among all local school districts and assists with emergency and disaster preparedness needs throughout the county. Sara is a FEMA certified trainer and provides the “Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools” course to agencies throughout the State of California. She works with local officials in developing programs that address issues relating to Homeland Security and provides training to schools throughout the county. Sara conducts research on disasters, natural and manmade. She also conducts presentations throughout the state to help educate schools in acts of terrorism, targeted acts of school violence and other types of disasters, helping to prevent, respond to, and recover from emergency situations. Sara is the 2005 Chair of the Orange County Emergency management Organization (OCEMO) Schools Committee and member of the Orange County medical Reserve Corps Advisory Board.
Dr. Mark Katz
Mark Katz, Ph.D., is a clinical and consulting psychologist in San Diego, California, and author of the book
On Playing a Poor Hand Well, published by W.W. Norton and Company (1997). In the book, Mark explores the lessons learned from those who’ve overcome adverse childhood experiences, and discusses ways of incorporating these lessons into our existing system of care. Mark is the recipient of the 1998 Rosenberry Award, a national award given yearly by Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado, in recognition of an individual’s contribution to the field of behavioral science. He has been both a keynote and featured speaker a number of regional and national conferences around the U.S., and continues to conduct trainings and workshops for a range of community based organizations around the country. For the past 24 years, Mark has served as the Director of Learning Development Services, an educational, psychological and neuropsychological center in San Diego, California. The center provides an array of services and resources to people of all ages (children, youth, families and adults), and also offers a variety of different ongoing seminars and trainings to individuals and groups in the San Diego area and beyond. The center is also home to the
Resilience Through the Lifespan Project, a project dedicated to understanding the different ways in which people have been able to carve out meaningful and productive lives for themselves, despite having endured a range of adverse childhood experiences. Most recently, Mark has worked with colleagues from around the country on a federally sponsored multi-year media campaign designed to increase public awareness of bullying and other forms of school violence. The campaign is also designed to increase public awareness of research validated prevention programs and practices that schools can incorporate in order to prevent and reduce bullying in particular, and other forms of hurtful and violent behavior in general.
Lt. Scott Madden
Riverside County Sheriff Dept.
Lieutenant Scott Madden has worked for the Riverside County Sheriff Department for over 16 years. During his career he has worked as a Patrol Deputy, Field-Training Officer, Detective, patrol Supervisor, Juvenile Teams Supervisor, and Detective Bureau Supervisor. Lt. madden has also worked in various specialized assignments such as narcotics. He is a firearms instructor and certified Active Shooter/Rapid Deployment Trainer for the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. Lt. madden has designed and directed several large scale multi-agency Active Shooter drills.
Kris Mohandie, Ph.D., Police Psychologists Operational Consulting International, Inc.
Dr. Kris Mohandie is a police and forensic psychologist with over fifteen years of experience in the assessment and management of violent behavior. He has worked in field responses and case investigations for local, state, and federal law enforcement organizations including LAPD’s Threat Management Unit and SWAT/Crisis Negotiation Team. He responded on-scene to the O.J. Simpson barricade and the North Hollywood Bank Robbery Shootout. Dr. Mohandie assisted the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s prosecution of the stalker of Steven Spielberg. He regularly consults on extreme violence, stalking, school violence, and threat cases in the private and public sector. Dr. Mohandie developed and implemented a model school violence threat management training program for the Los Angeles City and County Unified School Districts, which is being taught throughout the nation, as well as in Canada.
He has conducted extensive reviews of incidents of school and workplace violence, and was a co-author and researcher (with Meloy, Hempel, Shiva, and Gray) on an adolescent mass-murderer research project published in the June 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry. His book,
School Violence Threat Management: A Practical Guide for Educators, Law Enforcement, and Mental Health Professionals
was released November 2000 and is now in its second printing. Dr. Mohandie has conducted extensive trial pending and prison interviews of violent offenders, including a number of notorious school violence perpetrators, stalkers, and multiple murderers. Dr. Mohandie’s work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, U.S. Today, E!, and in the news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox, as well as the Discovery Channel, and USA Network.
Dustianne North
Dustianne North has been working in the field of youth mentoring since 1995, when she began building a mentor and volunteer program for the youth in foster care at the Florence Crittenton Center in Los Angeles. After creating the first mentor program to receive official approval from LA County agencies who govern foster care, Ms. North began providing training and technical assistance through CARS/EMT Associates for all types of mentor programs throughout California. Additionally, she has significant experience in the design and development of large-scale collaborative efforts to provide mentors for youth in foster care and on probation in Los Angeles County and other counties in California. She has provided training and technical assistance to mentor programs nationwide who receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as prevention programs in California who receive Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools funds. She specializes in assisting programs that serve youth in distressed situations such as court-involved youth. Ms. North has now completed her M.S.W. at UCLA, and she continues to work toward her Ph.D. in Social Welfare, also at UCLA.
Tom Rich
Tom Rich is a Senior Associate at Abt Associates Inc., a public policy research and consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, MA, where he works on projects involving criminal justice information systems, software design and development, geographic information systems, criminal justice research and evaluation, and emergency preparedness. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, he designed and developed
School COP, a Windows-based software application to track and analyze incidents occurring in and around K-12 schools. From 2001 through 2006, he conducted over 40 training sessions in the use of
School COP for the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Office, as part of their COPS In Schools conference series.
John Rosiak
Wayne Sakamoto, Lead Coordinator,
San Diego County Office of Education Safe Schools Unit
Wayne Sakamoto is a Safe Schools Lead Coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education Safe Schools Unit. He has over eighteen years of experience in the field of school and community safety and has developed and implemented a number of successful gang and youth violence prevention and intervention approaches. Wayne has been recognized on state and federal levels for violence prevention programs and efforts. He has recently been recognized for F.O.R.C.E. 8 (Focus On Resolving Conflict Everyday), a Youth Leadership Project developed by the Safe Schools Unit and partnered with KFMB TV station (local channel 8), and awarded the 2002 Golden Bell Award by the California School Boards Association. Wayne has also been recognized by The California Wellness Foundation for his work as an advocate for violence prevention and awarded the 2002 California Peace Prize Award. Wayne’s story has been published in the Chicken Soup series of books. Contact: (951) 378-5607
wsakamot@earthlink.net
Art Sanchez, Director of Secondary Education Jurupa Unified School District
John Vandenburgh, Coordinator Murrieta Valley Unified School District
John Vandenburgh created the PLUS Program, which is Peer Leaders Uniting Students in 1999 as a new approach for schools to establish a safe environment. This program is a tool to address the racism and violence that goes on in communities and create opportunities for individuals to understand each other. “The largest issues we encounter in education and the world comes from miscommunication. People fear that which they don’t understand.” One of the objective’s of the program is to encourage individuals to talk and then to learn to take ownership in their schools and communities. Part of what makes John unique is that he combines what he learned as a scholar athlete playing division I baseball for Brigham Young University with an informal education he earned traveling the globe. Along the journey John has already been to just under thirty different countries and six continents. The greatest trip came in 2005 when he and his wife Niki spent countless days in the beautiful country of Guatemala adopting their son Talo into their family. In 2006 John and Niki added to their family with the birth of their daughter Jazeli. John motivates others to get involved with their communities. He feels that people need to discover what entices them, and figure out who they are and what they are about. He encourages people to get involved in ways that help the next generation, not only locally, but globally as well. John says in the end if you are looking for significance in your life, give and you will get. The more we give of ourselves, the better we become.
Dave Vialpando, Special Agent Supervisor California Department of Justice
Special Agent Supervisor David Vialpando has been with the California Department of Justice, assigned to the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE), for the past 14 years. Prior to his employment with the State, Dave was a police officer with the Richmond, California Police Department for seven years, and worked with the Berkeley Police Department for two years before that. While employed with DOJ, Dave Vialpando has worked almost every BNE enforcement program including Clandestine Laboratory Investigation, Major Narcotic Investigations, Financial Investigations, and BNE’s Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention Unit. Dave Vialpando currently supervises San Diego BNE’s Violence Suppression Program which targets serious violent criminal offenders. As part of this assignment, Vialpando is cross-designated a Deputy United State Marshal. Vialpando is a California DOJ instructor in the area of street gangs and non-traditional solutions, and has provided instruction in criminal street gangs and drug trafficking trends for the National Law Enforcement Institute, California Narcotic Officer’s Association, U.S. Department of Justice, and local law enforcement agencies up and down the State. Vialpando has authored articles on street gangs for CNOA magazine, California Peace Officer Association magazine, and several police intelligence reports. Dave Vialpando is a member of the California Attorney General/Department of Education School Law Enforcement Partnership working with schools and school districts throughout California. As a member of the Law Enforcement Partnership, Vialpando has participated as a trainer in School Safety Plan development and Crisis Response Planning for schools. Vialpando is also the current President of the San Diego County Prevention Coalition, a collaborative of 200 agencies, organizations, and individuals dedicated to substance abuse prevention.
Maleika Walker, Web Wise Kids
As the newest member of the Web Wise Kids team, Maleika Walker comes with more than 13 years of experience as an educator and trainer. She has developed and delivered coursework and training materials in the education, non-profit and corporate arenas throughout the United States. As a teacher, consultant and executive coach Maleika comes to Web Wise Kids with an extensive background in education, training, curriculum design and professional development. Maleika travels around the United States to speak to organizations, school districts, police departments, and parent and youth groups about the importance of Internet Safety. Maleika’s goal is to educate and inform children and parents about the current online dangers that affect children and their families. Keeping our children safe is her number one priority. Maleika completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Howard University in Washington D.C. in Human Development & Psychology. She has a Master of Arts in Education and a Master of Science in Administration, both from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Maleika is very active in the community. She serves on several boards throughout Southern California and is an active member in several professional organizations; including the American Society of Training
