Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing in
Education podcast, the space where education
meets resilience. I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in
each episode, we dive deep into the personal
stories of educators, students, leaders, and
frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities
within modern education. Whether you're just
starting your teaching journey, or are we seasoned
professional looking for inspiration, we'll
explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent
burnout, and build trauma -informed communities
within our schools. Now, let's take a seat at
the front of the classroom as we get started.
Welcome back to the Classroom Narratives Healing
and Education Podcast, where today's guest is
someone whose very presence in the world of school
safety carries both the weight of history and
the urgency of now. Chad Chaney is the manager
of school safety for Florida Virtual School,
where he oversees protection for over 250 ,000
students and supports more than 3 ,000 staff
across the state. A retired law enforcement sergeant
and U .S. Marines Corps veteran, Chad brings
more than 25 years of experience across education,
public safety, behavioral threat assessment,
and crisis management. He is also a certified
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
practitioner. and an active leader with the Association
of Threat Assessment Professionals, serving on
both state and national committees, including
the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission's Threat
Assessment Subgroup. But more than his credentials,
Chad carries a visceral personal conviction shaped
by his 2023 walkthrough of Building 12 at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School, which is the preserved
scene of one of the most tragic school shootings
in U .S. history. That moment became a turning
point. sharpening his focus and deepening his
resolve to not only prevent violence, but to
hold our systems accountable when they fail our
students. Chad doesn't conflate trauma -informed
education with leniency. Instead, his approach
is rooted in strategy, precision, and collaborative
care, where he works shoulder -to -shoulder with
school psychologists, social workers, and counselors
to ensure that trauma is recognized and addressed
without compromising its safety. And today, he's
here to join us and talk about the intersection
of safety, trauma, and leadership, and the courageous
decision it takes to protect students not only
from external threats, but from the silence and
inaction that so often follow. Chad, welcome
to the show. Thanks for being here. Thank you
for having me. It's a pleasure. So, Chad, I want
you to go ahead as a Parklander and start with
your experience in walking through Building 12,
if you can. Chad never mentioned earlier that
when I was a student at Stoneman Douglas High
School, I was the first class of freshmen to
have a full school year to walk through Building
12. that 30 -classroom structure that had three
stories first opened its doors in spring of 2009.
I was in eighth grade. So that fall of 2009,
I was the first class to have that building for
a full year. And of course, all four years to
follow through high school. Every single year,
we have had nostalgic connections to what that
building was like. And eventually, it became
home to a crime scene. And now it's ashes and
dust. So Chad, if you could walk us through your
time going through Building 12 after the tragedy
had happened four years later. Again, you described
that moment as a reckoning with school safety.
And can you tell us more about that experience
and how it defines your approach to school safety?
Yeah, thanks for asking. A lot of people don't
realize that that building was up for such a
long time since the incident. And the majority
of the times, a lot of these buildings are demolished
right afterwards because the murderer or the
shooter is either taking their own life or they
were taken out by law enforcement, right? So
in this instance, the shooter was arrested, so
they had to wait to the trials to go through.
They had the shooter's trial, then they had the
civil trial with the school resource officer,
so they kept the building up. It just blocked
off where kids were still attending the regular
traditional school and walking by that building
every single day. They just blocked it off. So
once the trials were over, Marty Stoneman Douglas'
parents had an opportunity to go through the
crime scene themselves. And once they did that,
they came out and basically said, you know, we
need to share this experience with as many educators,
law enforcement professionals. politicians as
we can so this doesn't happen again. So Max Schachter,
one of the parents of Parkland, he was the one
that championed a lot of it. He invited a school
safety specialist to be one of the first groups
to go through the crime scene. And then I took
the opportunity to go down there because I wanted
to do my part. And when I went down there, it
definitely changed my perspective of everything
I look at, really. It's one of those things that
nobody's ever been through. Anybody that's not
involved in that actual incident, crime scene,
They don't get an opportunity to go through it.
So when they brought people through it, it was
frozen in time. That's what people don't realize.
There was laptops up. It was Valentine's Day,
so there was hearts everywhere. It's just like
a typical happy environment, but this turned
into a nightmare for these people. And there's
glass on the scenes, glass everywhere, blood
everywhere. And they walked us through each room
where these kids were murdered. And they talked
about the mistakes that were made. And then I
won't get into the graphic pieces of it, but
once we finished the walkthrough, we had open
dialogue with the parents. the spouses of the
victims and they expressed their frustrations.
And they just wanted us to understand that the
mistakes were made and how can we change it?
And then, so what I did from that point on, I
just took that to heart. I literally drove home.
It was a five hour drive home. And that night
I started writing down notes and I just started
sharing my experiences with my own staff and
team because I wanted them to know what I've
seen so we can make changes. That's how it started
really. What were some kinds of changes that
you noticed that you could have started to implement
instantly after that visit? Well, the one is
training, right? I think the training is big
across everywhere. You always hear about professional
development, especially in education. You always
hear about PDs, PDs this, professional development
this. But there wasn't that much on school safety
and threat assessments and behaviors and warning
signs. There wasn't any of that information.
So I had to get in front of my leaders. And it
started with a trust. I had to share that experience
with them because I wanted them to understand
why we need this training and stuff. So it took
a while, but we got buy -in. And they understand.
that needed to be done. So that's one of the
first things that happened was the training.
Definitely. Thank you for that. And I think when
we talk about training, we're also applying that
to the teacher level when we have educators that
are acting as, for example, mandatory reporters
and those who are trained in just. student emotional
wellness, or SEL as we call it, social emotional
learning and wellness, as a way to sound alarms
for the student's well-being. But even when
they are trained and equipped with the tools
to be informed in regulating students' emotions,
Sometimes teachers still find themselves dismissed
or ignored by those above them when it comes
to bringing forward concerns about their students.
So what advice do you have for teachers that
are navigating these types of institutional failures,
if you will, where it involves mandated reporting
or giving tips to those above them about students
that otherwise go ignored? That's a great question.
So I think it all stems from relationships when
these teachers, they're learning their kids.
If they have built this relationship with these
kids, they understand that the student is maybe
having a bad day. If they know every day he comes
in with a smile, everything's fine, and then
the next day he's just very reserved and quiet
and something's going on. So it's recognizing
that there's something going on and addressing
it. Hey, is there something going on? Pull them
to the side. And then if they realize that something
doesn't seem right, they need to bring that to
the attention, whether it's a school counselor,
some type of administrator, because they're like,
you know what, something is not right with so
-and -so today, and I think it would be a benefit
for somebody else to talk to them. and then if
they don't get the i guess the reception from
that person they're reaching out to that's when
they have to take it to another level they have
to understand their trust their instincts and
say you know what something doesn't seem right
i need to go to another level whether that's
going to an administrator going to the school
resource officer and bring it to their attention
because at that point It's on all those people
to come together and say, OK, we need to do some
type of intervention and speak up what's going
on. And if you're still not, obviously, you said
the mandatory reporting. If there's something
that's raising your attention, they need to report
it to not only their leadership, but possibly
the Department of Children and Families or additional
law enforcement outside their school. But in
Florida, we're getting a little better, but they
have to be able to speak up. They have to trust
their instincts and they have to not stay quiet.
They can't just let that suppress that feeling.
So they have to stay on their ground. And I think
the problem with the way that our system has
currently been set up, and I appreciate you telling
us about that as well, is that sometimes teachers
feel like their hearts are bleeding, but their
hands are tied. And I got that same vibe even
on the leadership level as well. When I used
to come forward with, I had a student, for example,
write me a suicide letter for her literacy fair
poem in December. And the response that I got
from leadership was, oh, your student's only
13. She doesn't understand what she's actually
feeling. And when the FSA, the state test are
over in five months in May, she'll feel a lot
better. So just put this to the side for now.
As a teacher, when that's the type of response
that you get, what steps do you take? And you're
actually making me think now, Chad, maybe I should
have gone to the SRO at that point, but I didn't.
I didn't know what to do. I just kind of, I didn't
know. What advice would you have for teachers
that continue to face resistance and want to
protect their position, essentially? Well, again,
like I said, it's difficult when you have 100
-something kids. But if you take that time to
learn about these kids, especially the kids that
you identify that maybe are going through something,
take the time to show them that you care, right?
And then get the feel for their baseline behaviors.
If the kid is every day struggling and he's sleeping
every day, then out of the norm, if he's hyper,
something else is going on that day. So you have
to understand the baselines of these behaviors
sometimes. And then you have to stay resilient.
keep that fire in you. And that's how I am when
I, in my own work, when I'm dealing with the
leaderships or other organizations, I'm like,
look, we can't stop. We're not until we get the
answers we need. We need to dot our I's cross
our T's and get to the root of the cause of what's
going on with these kids. And if the teachers,
if they're going to give up, then they're not
doing their part. And I know that's hard for
them to say, but it's just like, you know what?
this is more important than getting an A in this
class. And that's where a lot of the administration,
especially in a lot of the brick and mortar districts,
is they're dealing with the, they are dealing
with a lot, but they want that A grade, right?
And that's what they're focused on is academics.
And that's where that started with Marjory Stoneman
Douglas is that they worry more about academics
than they worry about school safety. So if kids
don't feel safe at school, then they're not going
to learn. So, and that's where you have to start
that right at the bottom. Perfect. I really appreciate
that. And when it comes to what you've been doing
throughout your time and working with behavioral
threat assessments, what systems should be in
place to act on behavioral threats before they
become an issue when they're too late? Good question.
I think the first thing is, I know we talked
about this before, is that that's just... Johnny
being Johnny, right? Oh, that's just him. No,
that's not Johnny being Johnny. There's something
going on there. So we need to find out what it
is. A lot of times when you do these interviews
with these kids or the counselor is talking to
them, they unpack so much, right? They find out
that mom and dad are getting divorced or he hasn't
seen dad in three years. And now they've introduced
some other person in their life. And it's just
a lot of these different stressors going on.
And that's where that chronic stress starts getting
involved. So I think that's one of the things
is just understanding that don't. dismiss something
if it doesn't seem right you need to look at
it right then and even the smallest little thing
needs to be addressed now it might not be anything
but we've looked at it we've investigated it
we've followed through with everything and if
there's an intervention needs to be put in place
we put an intervention in place whether it's
a small one or it ends up being a lot bigger
which sometimes it does so that's probably the
first thing I would recognize and then not to
get too deep into school shooting type of stuff
but leakage is one of the biggest things is that
There was a study done. I'm not going to quote
the research on it, but. Pretty much 100 % of
all school shooters have leaked their information
to somebody else that they were going to do it,
whether it's via internet, talking to somebody.
I know we talked about this before, is that somebody
mentioned to somebody else that he looked like
he'd be a school shooter or he was acting like
it, but just based on his behaviors, right? So
there's always some type of almost like a red
flag that wasn't addressed in a lot of these
situations. So they need to go with their gut
feeling and they need to bring it to somebody's
attention. I appreciate that. And when it comes
to teachers that are working with administration
that seems to lean into the systemic failures
rather than help them, I've noticed that some
things that have helped me, I've been going to
other trusted colleagues, especially if it's
around a student. I'll go to other colleagues
that share that student that I know, maybe get
along with me or the child and say. We're not
working against the students. We're here to form
a village for them. Form a village so they have
a network all day long of people checking in
on them. It's like if I'm period two, I'll go
to, in the morning, I'll go to the teacher they
have for lunch and maybe their sixth period just
to say, let's work as a team to keep eyes on
the student all day long to make sure that they're
feeling safe and being safe during the school
day. What are some other strategies and networks
that teachers can use to protect our students?
You said it right there. It's collaboration,
talking about it. You find out that there's five
other teachers that are dealing with this kid.
Go to them and talk to them. Say, hey, have your
own team meeting. Bring together and say, hey,
how can we support this kid? Are you seeing these
same type of behaviors in the class? And if they
are, then obviously it's not just your class.
Or it could be maybe it is your class. Maybe
it's something that you need to change, whether
it's moving the seat or bringing some type of
intervention in your classroom. But if you're
not sharing that information, that's kind of
where the threat assessment process is. It's
multidisciplinary. bringing everybody together,
talking about strategies, how to help these kids.
It's not about punishment. It's about prevention.
So it's about providing the resources and services.
And you bring that version to supporting these
kids. And that's how you get them back on track.
And it's helping the families as well. It's not
just leaving the kids. What's going on in the
family? That's when you get the social worker
involved and say, okay, is there any resources
that the family can have? I found out they're
living in a hotel. Okay, what can we do to try
to lessen that stress on these kids to get them
back on track? Thank you so much for that. And
the work you're doing now is also spanning into...
online learning environments as well. So with
your leadership going from both virtual and physical
learning spaces and I know teachers here in 2025
have probably had a good combination of each
especially after 2020. What are some different
challenges or even opportunities that you've
noticed between those two spaces especially with
the online presence and how to identify and intervene
with student crisis at that level? The biggest
thing is you don't have eyes on them every day.
You know, if you have that baseline behavior
of a kid walking in the classroom and he's all
hype and hyper and he's very just, you know,
a good open kid. Right. And then. You don't have
that same opportunities in a virtual environment.
So a lot of these kids are off camera teachers.
A lot of times they don't, they don't require
them to be on camera. They're dealing with some
kids that are isolation. They have anxieties.
You don't get to see that baseline behavior.
And that's one of the big things is that you
just don't know if he's having a bad day or not.
You don't know if he didn't sleep last night.
You don't know if he has bags under his eyes.
You just don't get that opportunity. If you have
a kid that you see every single day and he seemed
to shuffle, maybe he didn't get a chance to change
his clothes in the same clothes every day. Something's
not right with that kid, but you don't have that
opportunity in the virtual world. Also, a lot
of times the kids get expelled, they get sent
home, right? And there's no eyeballs on them
at that point. Similar to a workplace environment
when they do a hasty firing and they just fire
somebody, now you don't have eyeballs on them.
So now we don't have eyeballs on this kid from
a daily check -in with them, right? With a counselor
or a supervisor or somebody just to check in
with them. You don't have that. Now you have
a kid that possibly is at home by himself, not
supervised, in front of the internet and isolated.
look at the opportunities they have to do other
things that they shouldn't be doing. So that's
kind of the challenges. The opportunities are
you get to collaborate with multi -districts,
right? I deal with every single district throughout
the state. You deal with a lot of law enforcement
throughout the state. So I get a chance to learn
and to share information. And that's one of the
big things for me. I really appreciate that.
Thank you so much for that. And based upon our
conversation from today, what would you say is
a major takeaway that our listeners can come
forward with or even come away with in terms
of practices that they can now start to implement
at the beginning of the new school year. Well,
I don't know if it's anti, but I'm anti social
media for these kids at a certain point, right?
I think the social media has changed the landscape
of parenting in general. My kids are adults now,
but they didn't have to deal with it. But setting
boundaries, I think that's one of the big things
is that I talked to some of these parents about
if the kid's on his cell phone at 11 o 'clock
at night, there's nothing positive at 11 o 'clock
at night for them to be playing on the internet,
right? So unless they're studying for some exam,
they need to set boundaries. Take the phone away
from them at night. It's a privilege, right?
trust their instincts. A lot of times they just
hand them the phone and that's it. It's like
a little tool for them and they just go away,
but they need to learn about it. They need to
learn about keeping their kids safe on social
media and monitoring them. And that's the thing.
And a lot of them do. And if you hear about a
lot of these incidences, oh, I didn't know my
kid did this. Well, why don't you? Why are you
allowing them to be unsupervised at home and
on the internet? And I think that's one of the
biggest challenges that we deal with now with
a lot of the parents, you know, you deal with
a lot of online threats. Well, they didn't know
that they're not monitoring their kids' social
media. They're not monitoring what they're doing
online. And there's so many tools that the parents
can have access to, and we try to teach them
as much as possible, but they have to take ownership
in that. And that's one thing that the schools
need to do a better job as well, and to provide
the opportunities for the parents to learn about
the challenges with social media. And what do
those tools and opportunities look like for parents?
I mean, I could share a lot of the tools with
you, but there's a, we call it digital threat
assessment, but there's a school safety type
of sites that we have multiple links on where
it teaches them about like Instagram. It teaches
them about Snapchat and what to look for and
how kids can hide things. There's applications
that they can hide, like the calculator app,
right, where they can hide. It's like a window.
It leads into other different little rooms and
stuff in their phones. A lot of these kids are
hiding stuff in these applications. So there's
so many opportunities that I can share. But there's
so many that I can't even count how many they
are that are very valid. Is it something that
we can put into our show notes? Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I can definitely send it to you. Awesome.
Thank you for that. We'll definitely take a look
at those and include those. And one thing that
I've learned over time as a teacher as well is
to really focus on, we always talk about relationships,
relationships, but I found that the most important
relationships come from the peer -to -peer connections
to start with. I'm thinking now, like, How many
classes did I have after eighth grade from high
school through graduate school where I walked
into the classroom and by the end of my time,
if not significantly sooner, know the names of
every single student in that room with me? And
it was very, very few. And I'm remembering now
that the ones or the classrooms where I did know
the most people who were there, where they were
visible, they were human, they were beyond the
number. Those are the ones that I did the best,
and those are the classes that I performed the
best in. And I think once we have students connect
with each other and watch out for one another,
then they can build that whole relationship with
the classroom. So when we say that whole tacky,
oh, I'm building a family, you really have to
do exactly that. You're getting the students
to become family members in order to make the
whole classroom thrive to its best potential.
That's what I've learned as well over time. No,
that's the peer -to -peer mentorship. building
a little bit now. It's starting to get a little
bit more popular, but it's, when I was a kid,
that's all you had. We didn't have social media.
Oh, you had your peers. Everybody was like, oh
man, where's Johnny at today? He's not here,
you know? So you're right. Everybody knew they
went to their family's houses. They played in
the yards and everybody wasn't isolated like
they are now. So you're right. There's that built
culture that. The teachers have to show ownership.
The leadership has to show ownership. It's like
a village, right? Everybody has to take ownership
in that. But who is responsible for doing that?
We are as adults and parents and teachers and
educators to bring these tools to the kids. And
so they understand that and bring it back to
reality. And I think that you're right. It's
missing. uh missing piece right now and you've
said it right when you knew every one of your
kids in that class that shows that you cared
about them and you've seen those videos where
those teachers have those handshakes every one
of their kids right and that positive relationships
those kids understand they know every day that
they feel loved and they know that they're safe
and that's all about that's what we need to build
back again and it definitely holds students accountable
for each other i remember my very first year
there was a student who was I was very distraught
one day and I found that it was because her boyfriend
had attempted suicide the night before. And it
was her close friend from that class that came
to my desk and said, hey, so -and -so is having
a hard day. Why don't you just make sure that
you check in on her on the way out? So now the
students are being accountable for each other.
And that was huge. Yeah, that's having those,
identifying those leaders at that level and say,
hey, I need some help here. We need help to make
sure we're keeping eyeballs on everybody, making
sure. But you have to give them the tools as
well to how to address it right. So, and show
them what to look out for. So that's a good idea.
Thank you for that. Any final thoughts for listeners?
We're all in this together and that if something
doesn't seem right, it probably isn't right.
So it needs to be brought to the attention of
somebody else that's in a position to address
that. Thank you so much for that, Chad. So that
was Chad Chaney here to remind us that school
safety isn't about metal detectors and discipline
codes. It's about the people and about having
the courage to intervene early, have the humility
to self -reflect, and the willingness to stand
in the difficult space between both crisis and
prevention. Whether you're a teacher who feels
unheard, an administrator balancing competing
demands, or a policymaker with the power to shift
the system, Chad's message is clear that we all
have a role in this work. And that role must
begin with accountability, collaboration, and
an unflinching commitment for us as a system.
Thank you for listening today. Thank you for
joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing
and Education podcast. If today's episode inspired
you or made you think differently, I'd love to
hear from you. Drop a comment or review wherever
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can transform our scars into stars in education.
one conversation at a time.