Crucial Conversations Speakers Series
Please join Lehigh's College of Education for its 1st Annual "Crucial Conversations Series Dialog." Counseling Psychology Professor Dr. Nicole Johnson will moderate a dialog between Dr. Joseph Roy, Superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District and Dr. Peter Langman, psychologist, author, and trainer and a Counseling Psychology alum who is an expert on school shootings. Please check out the bios to the left!
Ultimately the entire community! We think this will be especially important to all school staff, parents, students (middle-school through graduate level), businesses, community leaders and health care
6:00pm - Welcome & Introduction, Dean William Gaudelli
6:05pm - Panel Discussion with Dr. Johnson, Dr. Roy and Dr. Langman
6:50pm - Q&A with Audience
7:00pm - Reception with complimentary refreshments and appetizers
Parking for this event is FREE.
Alumni Parking Pavilion, 615 Brodhead Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Google Directions: Use this link.
Please enter the Alumni Parking Pavillion from either of the two entrances. When arriving at the garage mention you are attending the Crucial Conversations Event and the attendant will give you a parking pass to display on your vehicle.
Peter Langman ’00 Ph.D.—a sought-after expert on the psychology of young people who commit rampage school shootings—recently sat down with Joseph Roy ’09 Ph.D., superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District and an expert in school leadership, to discuss school shootings at the request of Lehigh College of Education Dean William Gaudelli.
The following is an edited version of their discussion.
Joseph Roy (JR): When we talk about school safety, there seems to be an over-emphasis on the physical security side. I literally receive emails every single day from businesses selling stuff, [providing] training, door wedges, whatever. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Peter Langman (PL):Sure. In terms of school safety from a physical security standpoint, there is a lot of emphasis on keeping people out of a building. There are door-locking systems, buzzing systems, surveillance cameras and so on. And yet most shootings are done by people who belong in the building.
JR: If you look at the shooters, it seems like most of times they are….
PL: Usually they are current students, and occasionally former students. Usually they are not outsiders. There have been a very small number of attacks at schools by people who have no business being there. But that’s the extreme minority among cases that are extremely rare to begin with in the mass school shootings. So, that is one point. You cannot just keep people out, because the people doing the shooting often belong in the school and have an ID badge to be buzzed in just like they ought to be. So, that alone is not going to prevent shootings.
Also, another fact that people tend not to know about is, the school shootings do not always happen inside the building. I have tracked at least 18 attacks that happened wholly or partly outside. And that could be when people are arriving in the morning. It could be at recess, it could be when everyone is leaving at the end of the day.