Co-Founder of Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP)
Bringing a Culture of Safety to Sinai Akiba Academy
They handed me a mandated state policy and told me to “make it a training.”
What I made was a mirror.
Instead of centering the rare, headline-grabbing crises, I focused on the quiet violence — the kind that never make the news. The eye-roll in a meeting. The hallway dismissal. The snide comment passed off as humor. The moments that build, or break, a culture.
I used the wide-lens definition of “violence” to my advantage, shaping a Plan that asked every employee not just what they would do in an emergency, but who they are in the everyday. We talked about escalation and de-escalation, yes — but also about tone. About space. Neutrality, and how radical that can be. About what safety actually feels like.
I led over 100 staff through this Plan. Each department. Each training. Each pause for someone to say, “Wow, I’ve never thought of it like that.”
Almost a year later, a teacher pulled me aside and said, “You’re the reason I did it.” She had just completed her Master’s — specializing in conflict resolution — and wanted me to know that the presentation woke something up in her. It was the first time in years she’d pursued something solely for herself. Not just to grow as a teacher, but to reconnect with the part of her that existed beyond the roles of educator and mother.
That moment will stay with me forever — a quiet reminder that the ripple effect of this work often arrives long after the training ends.
