MSPA 2026 Spring Webinar
April 17, 2026 12:00pm (EDT) – 3:00pm (EDT)
“Equitably Conducting Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management for All Students”
Meet the presenter:
Christina Chester, Psy.D, NCSP
Christina Chester, Psy.D, NCSP, is the Director for Psychological Services with the
Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, MD. Dr. Chester is responsible for
school psychologists and the Bilingual Assessment Team (BAT) in the Division of
Psychological Services. In this role, she oversees the Signs of Suicide Prevention
Program, Trauma-Informed Schools, Crisis Intervention responses, and the
Behavioral Threat Assessment initiatives. She is the former Director for Crisis
Intervention and Safety for the Waukegan Public Schools and was responsible for
managing the five missions of emergency management and safety/security for her
school district. She is the former chairperson of the National Association of School
Psychologist’s (NASP) School Safety & Crisis Response Committee and coauthor of
the PREPaRE Workshop 1: Crisis Prevention and Preparedness. She also received
the NASP Presidential Award in 2017, 2018, and 2021 for her work with
understanding race and privilege, national crisis responses around the continental
United States and Puerto Rico, and advocacy around school crisis response and
recovery work during the COVID19 pandemic.
Important Details:
Registration Deadlines:
- Mail-in registration due by April 3, 2026.
- Online registration due by April 15, 2026.
Learning Objectives:
Date & Time
Friday, April 17, 2026
12:00 PM (EDT) – 3:00 PM (EDT)
Location
LIVE Zoom Webinar
This session will teach how to conduct behavioral threat assessment and management cases in a manner that will decrease disproportionality for students with disabilities and from minoritized populations.
This workshop addresses the following NASP practice model domains:
Domain 4: Mental and Behavioral Health Services and Interventions; Domain 6: Services to Promote Safe and Supportive Schools; Domain 8: Equitable Practices for Diverse Student Populations
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Analyze areas where school staff may be impacted by thinking and biases that inappropriately refer students for a behavioral threat assessment.
2. Understand how students with disabilities and those from minoritized backgrounds may be impacted by disproportional referrals to behavioral threat assessment and management teams.
3. Develop strategies for their school behavioral and threat assessment teams to appropriately refer students for interventions and support from the behavioral threat assessment and management team.
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and hence the Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists recognize MSPA as an approved provider of Continuing Professional Development/Continuing Education (CPD/CE) for psychologists (NASP APS #1002). MSPA maintains responsibility for the program. Documentation of attendance for 3 hours of CPD/CE credit will be provided to certified school psychologists and licensed psychologists who attend the entire workshop and complete an evaluation form. Partial credit cannot be awarded. In order to receive CPD/CE credit, attendees must join the webinar no later than 15 minutes after the start, and may not leave prior to 15 minutes before the end. Attendee join and leave times will be tracked to confirm full attendance. Additionally, webinar attendees must respond to at least two of three polls presented during the webinar. Following the workshop, attendance and poll records will be verified and webinar attendees who have met the attendance criteria described will be emailed a link no later than noon on Monday, April 20, 2026 to complete the evaluation form, which must be completed by May 1, 2026. After submitting that form, the attendee will receive the CPD/CE certificate.
Daily Program Agenda:
11:45 – 12:00: Webinar participant check-in and review of important information.
12:00 – 1:30: “Equitably Conducting Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management for All Students”.
1:30 – 1: 45: Break
1:45 – 3:00: Continue “Equitably Conducting Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management for All Students”.
Registration
Go to www.mspaonline.org to register and pay online or download the full brochure to mail in your registration form and check to: MSPA Spring Webinar, PO Box 175, White Marsh, MD 21162. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by April 3, 2026. There is an ONLINE REGISTRATION DEADLINE of April 15, 2026. The Zoom link will be sent to all registrants on April 16, 2026. Your attendance certificate acts as your receipt (monetary receipts are available upon request). Reimbursement requests for registration cancellations will be honored until April 10, 2026. Reimbursement requests after that date cannot be guaranteed.
MSPA does not offer a group registration rate however, employers who register a group of 10 or more will receive 1 complimentary registration. Email the list of names as well as registration forms for each registrant to Tina Wachter at program@mspaonline.org. She will give you the total cost for the registrations.
Persons with questions or special needs should contact: Tina Wachter at 443-672-8288 or program@mspaonline.org.