Curtis S. Lavarello
Executive Director
SCHOOL SAFETY ADVOCACY COUNCIL

Curtis Lavarello is a twenty-three year law enforcement veteran in South Florida. During his tenure as a police officer, Curt has held assignments on road patrol, detective bureau, gang task force unit, traffic division and 17 years as a school resource officer. Curt sat on the committee that was responsible for developing the first School Resource Officer program in Broward County, Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) and was named South Florida’s law enforcement officer of the year in 1987 for his work with the youth in the North Fort Lauderdale area. In 1994, Curt developed the first youth/teen court program for Palm Beach County, Florida and that program went on to be recognized on national television as one of the largest teen diversion programs in the State of Florida. Curt was a founder, board member, vice-president, president and Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers from 1991 until 2005. Curt was recently named as the new Executive Director for the School Safety Advocacy Council, which will focus in part on the potential terrorist threats to schools in the United States.

Curt has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada speaking about school violence, school based police programs and terrorism. He has been the focus of numerous articles and has been featured on ABC’s “Eye on Crime”, CBS Evening News, the CBS Television show, “The Defenders”, Fox News “Dayside” and World News with Peter Jennings. Curt has also been featured as the guest on several National Talk Radio shows, including national public radio (NPR). Curt has authored numerous articles on the topic of school based policing and was responsible for developing the curriculum now in use to train school based police officers throughout the United States and Canada. Curt has also served as an adjunct instructor for the University of North Florida (IPTM), the National School Safety Center (CA.), The National School Safety Center and the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. Curt has also worked closely with the State of Louisiana Governor’s Office, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and the Maine Criminal Justice Academy on the development of school resource officer programs in those states. Curt recently was selected as part of the SRO focus group sponsored by the United States Department of Justice to formulate SRO training on a national level. Curt is currently working with the U.S. Department of Justice/COPS office in the delivery of a standardized SRO curriculum, and the development of a homeland security curriculum for school based police officers.

Curt resides in Sarasota County, Florida, with his two children.