As the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy draws near, many are still left wondering what happened, why it happened and how it could have been prevented. While we may never fully comprehend the senseless events of December 14, 2012, there are lessons to be learned to help prevent something like it from happening in the future.

As media outlets prepare one-year anniversary stories on the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy, Nova Southeastern University has a Subject Matter Expert available to discuss the issue of school violence and school shootings.

Scott Poland, Ed.D., a professor at Nova Southeastern University's Center for Psychological Services, is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, self-injury, school safety, threat assessment, parenting and the delivery of psychological services in schools. He is a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team for the National Association of School Psychologists and serves as the Prevention Director for the American Association of Suicidology. He has led multiple national crisis teams following numerous school shootings and suicides and has assisted schools and communities after terrorism acts in New York, Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma. Poland served as the team leader of the crisis response team sent to Jefferson County Public Schools during the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings.

Poland is a Past President of the National Association of School Psychologists and was the Director of Psychological Services (1982-2005) for a large Texas school district that received numerous state and national awards for its exemplary psychological services. He has received many individual honors including being named a finalist for the national school psychologist of the year, named the most outstanding school psychologist in Texas twice and named most outstanding psychologist in Texas. He also received the Houston Wage Peace Award.