RUMOR - student stabbed at Roosevelt Magnet School

TRUTH - the student was not "stabbed", he/she was "cut" by another child with a box-cutter. The incident, from what I understand, did not result in a hospitalization, but it did result in an injury. Why didn't the public hear about this? Such an incident is not a matter of "privacy of the offender", as it pertains to child safety.

If you have a student that takes out a gun and begins to shoot another student, right away the shooter is identified and the name is released. Additionally, parents as well as students are informed by the alert system. In this instance, there was no alert given. Granted, a box cutter on campus, is no where near as dangerous as a gun on campus, but parents and the public still deserve some type of notification of the incident.

I am hearing from more than one parent, at different schools, that there is an attempt to keep problems of violence and discipline secret and within the schools (see school resource officers).Unfortunately, all schools don't have "school resource officers". The "secrecy" of this particular issue and the failure to notify the parents of a potential problem endangers life and safety of all students. I find this problematic, as it does not encourage public safety and poses a problem if this is District 150's formal policy going forward.

Safety cannot be a facade - I will say again, if parents know the school their child attends is not safe - it won't be safe, unless parents and students stand together to make it so. The schools will do what they can to appease parents, without addressing the root problems. Hopefully these Roosevelt Magnet School parents will get together and find some answers.

Campus police need to be team players

In my opinion, the pjstar did District 150 AND the general public a disservice when they ran the article on the campus police issue, without attempting to educate the public on the role of school resource officers in school turnaround. I mean really, are they trying to scare people, or what? I'm not an expert on what they do over on Wisconsin Ave., by any means, however, I do try to research and stay abreast of what is happening with the social giant that is the school turnaround process.

Some FACTS: Schools need campus police. Our schools are in the turnaround process. The changes are going to happen - they are mandated by the Department of Education.

Since the pjstar didn't bother to provide the info on SROs, let me give it a try. District 150 appears to be in the process of developing and implementing a School Resource Officer (SRO) program:

SRO Program Development

There are numerous unique challenges associated with SRO programs. Schools can be politically charged environments. There are limited amounts of funding and resources for both the police department and school system. In addition, there may be misunderstandings or mistrust by many individuals and groups concerning police officers being assigned to schools.

1. The first step in developing an SRO program is to complete an assessment. The school district must openly assess its security needs and look at the way they currently interact with the police department. When do schools call the police for assistance? How does the school report criminal offenses that occur on school property?

2. The next step is to identify those individuals who are the stakeholders in maintaining a safe school. Students, parents, school employees, community members and the police department must be brought in to discuss options in developing a partnership between the school district and law enforcement. At this point information and research on starting an SRO program should be presented to the interested parties.

3. If the School Resource Officer Program is believed to be the best option in providing police services to the school community, a project team should be assembled. The SRO project team should consist of representatives from the school system, police department and community groups.

4. At this point of the process several key issues must be explored. Who is going to pay for the School Resource Officers? What are the standard operating procedures and policies for the SRO program? How will we introduce the SRO into the school community?

State of Illinois Awards School Improvement Grant to Peoria High School