Announcing the 2023 Campus Safety K-12 Director of the Year Finalists
Congratulations to this year’s K-12 school and school district finalists in our Director of the Year awards program!

Winners of this year’s Director of the Year award will be announced at Campus Safety Conference West, taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 10-12. For more information and to register for the event, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.
Campus Safety is pleased to announce the 2023 K-12 school and school district Director of the Year finalists.
The accomplishments of this year’s K-12 school and school district finalists run the gamut, from creating a safety department from scratch to installing visitor management systems. Some of their other achievements include:
- Retrofitting all campus classroom locks
- Certifying students, teachers, campus employees, and community members on First Aid, CPR, and AED use
- Leasing new, more environmentally friendly patrol vehicles, saving the district thousands of dollars
- Upgrading campus video surveillance and access control systems
- Applying for and being awarded more than $700,000 in grants to improve school security
- Implementing anonymous reporting tools
- Upgrading school public address systems
The K-12 Campus Safety Director of the Year Finalists Are:
- James Corbin, Student Safety Coordinator, Hamilton County Schools, Chattanooga, Tennessee: View his profile and photos.
- Paul Garcia, Chief of Security, Lynwood Unified School District, Lynwood, California: View his profile and photos.
- Garrett Humphrey, Director of Campus Safety and Security, UMS-Wright Preparatory School, Mobile, Alabama: View his profile and photos.
- John Merchant, Sheriff, Brown County (Kansas) Sheriff, Hiawatha, Kansas: View his profile and photos.
- Mike Newton, Director of Safety and Security, Elizabeth School District, Elizabeth, Colorado: View his profile and photos.
- Levaughn Smart, Executive Director of Security and Disaster Preparedness, Palm Springs Unified School District, Palm Springs, California: View his profile and photos.
- Danielle Stevens, District Safety Manager, Lake Zurich CUSD 95, Lake Zurich, Illinois: View her profile and photos.
Winners of this year’s Director of the Year award will be announced at Campus Safety Conference West, taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 10-12. For more information and to register for the event, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.
The college, university, and healthcare facility finalists were announced on Monday. You can read about them here.
Congratulations to all of our finalists, and good luck!
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Is there a Campus Safety Director of the Year competition for higher education?
Yes! You can read about them here: https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/news/2023-campus-safety-higher-education-healthcare-director-of-the-year-finalists/