Building Truly Safe and Sound Schools with Michele Gay
For Michele Gay, co-founder and executive director of Safe and Sound Schools, the name of the organization is more than a catchy alliteration; it’s a prescriptive call to action: “Our kids deserve to be safe and sound, so they should be physically safe, and we should be taking a sound approach,” said Michele.
Her "superpower," as she puts it, is finding good people and bringing them together. Her work at Safe and Sound Schools is clear evidence of that. Since their founding in 2013, they have built a series of programs and resources that bring together all aspects of safety in support of their mission: “to protect every student and every school, every day.”
Michele means it when she says “every student.” Her youngest daughter, Josephine Grace (Joey), who was killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, lived with autism, visual impairment, and apraxia of speech. The challenges and gifts that made Joey who she is have inspired Safe and Sound Schools to think beyond the average student, helping schools meet the special needs of individuals with developmental disabilities, communication challenges, medical needs, mobility challenges, and more.
In honor of her daughter, Michele joins us during Autism Awareness month to share how she turned unimaginable loss into action, becoming one of the most influen
tial voices in school safety, and how Joey continues to inspire and guide their work to this day.
Creating a framework for action
Following the loss of her daughter, Michele chose to channel her grief into structured, measurable action. She and Alissa Parker, mother of Emilie Parker, who was also killed at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012, co-founded Safe and Sound Schools in 2013.
Early on, Michele and Alyssa recognized a common challenge in school safety, the "tug of war" between different departments. The public safety team wants better tech, while the mental health team wants more counselors, and the board wants to know how to pay for it all.
Their response to this friction was the development of the Comprehensive School Safety Framework. It organizes safety into six essential domains:
Mental & Behavioral Health: Critical mental health resources for early intervention.
Health & Wellness: A spectrum of care to build healthier, safer, and more successful learning environments.
Physical Safety & Security: The tools, technology, and infrastructure required for a secure campus.
Culture, Climate & Community: Toolkit to foster a welcoming environment where students feel seen.
Leadership, Law & Policy: Ensuring compliance with laws like FERPA and the ADA.
Operations & Emergency Management: The day-to-day protocols that keep a school running.
This holistic strategy serves as a constant guide for Safe and Sound Schools' work and as a necessary roadmap for educators, law enforcement, technology providers, and mental health professionals. Within each pillar, countless programs, trainings and research initiatives help schools create a sustainable culture of safety that protects both the physical lives and the psychological health of every student and staff member.
Joey’s legacy: “Especially Safe”
Michele sees Joey’s fingerprints across the work of Safe and Sound Schools, but Especially Safe is their signature program developed in her honor.
“We always kind of joked that Joey was especially special because of all of her fun bells and whistles and all the unique things about her, the gifts, the challenges, you know, all that stuff, and so that's kind of where the title of the program came in,” said Michele, “but it's also a reality– who in our communities do we really have to especially tend to, do we have to especially prepare for, do we have to especially include.”
Too often, emergency plans are designed for the "average" student, leaving those with special needs, mobility challenges, or language barriers at a higher risk during a crisis.
The Especially Safe Program details how teams can both plan and prepare, as well as teach and train, to meet the special needs of students, staff, and visitors in their school community.
Understanding prevention through research
With the many tools available to prevent tragic outcomes in school emergency situations, it’s important to take a step back and understand what truly works. While headlines primarily focus on negative outcomes, Safe and Sound Schools is highlighting success stories.
The Averted School Violence Program (ASV), adopted by Safe and Sound Schools in 2023 from the National Policing Institute’s Center for Targeted Violence Prevention, creates a data-driven approach to stopping targeted school attacks by compiling success stories and analyzing prevention and intervention strategies.
ASV was also born out of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. In the aftermath, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) convened a national school safety advisory group to provide recommendations on how to prevent future school shootings and other acts of violence on school campuses.
Out of that meeting, the DOJ’s COPS Office allocated funding for the National Policing Institute (formerly the Police Foundation) to establish and maintain the Averted School Violence (ASV) database. From 2015 to 2023, the National Policing Institute built a strong foundation of research and reports that shaped school safety practices nationwide.
Today, ASV and Safe and Sound Schools have come together to create a more powerful, data-driven tool that empowers school safety leaders to prevent tragedy before it occurs.
Every student and every school, every day
For Michele, the longer they persist, the more of Joey she sees in the work.
“She had so many challenges and yet, somehow got up every day ready to meet them with a smile on her face, and we're determined to hold on to that and do the same,” said Michele.
She and her team feel Joey smiling down on them.
“It is tremendous to be a part of and humbling to kind of watch her spirit overtake all of it, but it feels very much like we are being guided along the journey,” said Michele.
Learn more about building a comprehensive school safety program.
Listen to the latest episode of Vantage Points to hear Michele Gay discuss her journey from the classroom to national advocacy, and how Joey’s spirit continues to guide the mission of Safe and Sound Schools.
