Wearing the Safety Hat—Again, and Always

Author: Cat - mom, school ops leader, and national crisis responder

For the last several years, I’ve had the honor of serving as Managing Director of the Learning & Management Practice at Joffe Emergency Services. I’ve partnered with schools across the country, supporting them through moments of deep uncertainty and change. I’ve trained teams, helped shape systems, and walked alongside leaders facing the unimaginable. It has been some of the most meaningful work of my career.

Now, I’m stepping into a new chapter—one that is, in many ways, a return to my roots.

I am transitioning into the role of Chief Operating Officer at an independent school in Los Angeles. It’s a role that brings me back to what first pulled me into school leadership: integrating daily operations with a core commitment to student safety and well-being. The day-to-day essentials of food, shelter, transportation, uniforms, and facilities are not separate from the work of school safety. They are safety. They are the foundation students stand on so they can learn, grow, and thrive.

This school community has been through a great deal. The recent LA wildfires affected our campus, our families, and our sense of stability. Times like these make it even more clear that children cannot focus on self-actualization, creativity, or academic success until they feel physically and emotionally safe. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reminds us that before students can stretch toward their highest potential, they need the basics of security, nourishment, structure, and care. That is the work I’ve always done. That is the work I’m diving into even more deeply now.

What makes this transition even more meaningful is that my own children will be students at this school. The lines between personal and professional are blending in the best way possible. I am not just designing systems for safety, I am testing them and their impact with my own kids. I’m not just thinking about how to support a community through change, I’m joining it.

There is no company that supports students with health, safety, and security better than Joffe. There is no leader that creates creative, lasting, impactful safety systems better than Chris. I’m immensely proud of the systems we’ve built together, the communities we’ve served, and the leaders we’ve equipped. Joffe’s mission lives on in every conversation I’ll have and every decision I’ll make in my new role. I’m not leaving this work. I’m narrowing my focus, deepening my investment, and putting my energy into one specific community where I can help build something lasting.

The safety hat is still on. But this time, I’m wearing it with a new kind of clarity and connection, because I’m supporting the very community my own children will be part of each day. There’s no greater motivation.