DFi Presents at the International School Safety Institute on Teen Culture

As a board member of DFi with a corporate background versus one in education, I got the unique experience of sitting tableside in what proved to be a very interesting set of conversations. I also got to speak with some of the presenters as well as other attendees.

One speaker in particular, John Callery, made a remark that is really sticking with me. Mr. Callery is with the DEA and is an Assistant Special Agent in Charge. His career has spanned continents for the DEA and currently focuses on addressing the opioid issues in America. To say that there is a battle underway is quite an understatement and hearing about the realities the DEA faces in fighting the current epidemic is both eye opening and a little disheartening.

For example, only 675 DEA agents are assigned to enforce compliance with 1.7 million entities that are part of the opioid supply and distribution chain. While this group is making a big impact with the limited resources they have, two small pharmacies in the same town of just over 3000 people received shipments of over 20 million pills. While this is an extreme example, it is happening all over the United States and the issues stem from criminal negligence all the way to outright criminal behavior.

This example also highlights that a lack of education has played a major role in opioid addiction. As consumers, we trust our doctors and pharmacists, but were not properly educated on what it means to get a opioid prescription. We did not know the right questions to ask, what alternatives to explore, or how to lookout for severely negative side effects. Clearly, the events of the last few years have educated us, but not in the most ideal way. We learned the harms way too late and this has had dire consequences for many communities across the country.

While this example is hard to hear, Callery also had a simple, yet powerful message; when it comes to the people we care the most about (family members, colleagues, friends). Callery reminds us we often have best interests in mind. However, not all of use choose to get educated on how to support those best interests – whether it be safer school environments or understanding the impact of today’s modern drugs on society.

It is for this reason, I am reminded of the importance of mission for a non-profit like Digital Futures. Our mission is quite straightforward. It is simply to provide educational resources that enlighten schools and communities on how to navigate life in a digital age – one with perils that are not understood as well as opportunities that can be take advantage of. Similar to the opioid issue, this is an important topic and without education, many schools, communities, and students stand to be negatively impacted.

Hearing speakers like Callery, and some his colleagues like Will Chapman, a school resource officer from Newtown, CT and first responder during the Sandy Hook incident, or Dan Wold, a superintendent of a Nevada school district, a common theme emerges. Essentially we need tools, frameworks, and evidence-based curriculum that supports how our schools take care of their students, create safer environments, and most importantly, create a positive climate for dealing with the world they find themselves in, which is dramatically different from the world today’s teachers, parents, and school resources officers may have grown up in.

In ending, my takeaway from attending a conference like this, one organized by amazing and dedicated professionals, is to remember that we can choose to be more educated and we can choose to use the resources available to better educate those around us. At DFi we focus on doing this with a positive message and the goal of transferring practical skills.

Thanks to Jay Martin for taking the time and energy to bring DFi to this important audience.

For more information about DFi and our progressive curriculum on digital citizenship, please visit our pages for parents, teachers, and school resource officers, and subscribe to our newsletter. If our content is a good fit for your situation…get started now.