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U-46 data reveals trend of reduced suspensions


By Seth Hancock
  The number of out-of-school suspensions (OSS) continues to decrease in School District U-46 and the number of staff trained to deal with crisis situations has increased according to a presentation on school safety and culture given at the Board of Education meeting on Monday, Feb. 8.
  According to the district, the number of OSSs since 2007-08 has dropped from 7,082 to 1,827 in 2014-15 at secondary schools, a 74.2 percent decline. John Heiderscheidt, director of School Safety and Culture, said this school year the numbers are 33 percent lower from a year ago.
  Heiderscheidt said the district seeks to use in-school solutions. Although he said there are still “expellable offenses occurring,” the number of expulsion hearings has dropped from 82 in 2010-11 to 11 last year, and the number of expulsions has dropped from 35 to one.
  “One of the things that I’ve been a firm believer in is that the more kids we put in the streets, the more problems they’re going to have,” Heiderscheidt said.
  OSS numbers for fighting dropped from 452 in 2013-14 to 385 in 2014-15 and for weapons from 43 to 31. There was an increase for drugs or alcohol from 166 to 204, and although none were related to heroin, Heiderscheidt said an increased awareness to that drug last year may account for some of that increase.
  Board member Sue Kerr asked about the drug Narcan, used to save lives due to heroin overdoses, and if schools have access to the drug. Heiderscheidt said the schools do not but first responders do.
  Heiderscheidt opened the presentation by talking about some of the changes, one being his department’s name which previously was school Safety and Security, which was “changed in addressing the culture in our organization,” and he also said “everybody” is responsible for the safety and security of district schools.
  “What I’ve grown to understand is that our school employees are the accountability holders,” Heiderscheidt said. “So as a responsible organization, we have to make it as efficient and effective for our employees as possible given the limited amount of training we’re capable of.”
  Part of that has been to use the Milwaukee-based Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) to train staff, and from 2009-10 to this school year the number of CPI trained staff has jumped from four percent to 48 percent. Heiderscheidt said Streamwood High School is fully trained and in three years that school has gone from one of the schools with the highest incidents of fights to the lowest.
  Heiderscheidt said a grant helped put electronic access controls at schools which means people can’t just freely walk in and out of schools, and U-46 uses a database system “that keeps track of our visitors but also scans them through a national database of registered sex offenders.”
  Last year’s four school security checks showed 100 percent passing in sign-in and visitor tags requirements and nearly 100 percent for locked doors, but there is some improvement needed at inquiry and greeting time. U-46 was in complete compliance with the six safety drills required by the state which range from fire drills to lock down training.
  Rodney Craig, Hanover Park’s village president, helped present and said “U-46 has been marvelous” and a “great friend” in his nine years as village president, and David Webb, Hanover Park’s police chief, as well as Colin Fleury, Elgin police commander, explained how officers do walkthroughs at elementary schools and also explained the district’s annual active shooter exercise.
  Board members Jeanette Ward thanked “all of the police officers that are here” for their service and asked if there were plans to expand the active shooter exercise. Heiderscheidt said “it’s pretty expansive” with “some hundreds of fire and police departments at the last one,” and the drill is not done during school hours but rather in the summer with volunteer crisis actors.
  On fighting, Heiderscheidt said: “It’s not the situation before where, you know, you tell staff members they’ve got to break it up as fast as possible. We actually have a plan that we give them.”
  Board members Traci Ellis questioned the consistency of how officers deal with fights. Although citing no specific cases, she said she’s still “seen some instances that left me going hmm, I don’t know about that.”
  “A routine fight at Elgin High might get you arrested. A routine fight at Bartlett High might get you sent home to your parents,” Ellis claimed and then asked: “Do the various departments meet together to talk about policing in our schools and how we bring some level of uniformity?”
  “You’ll find that the officers in Bartlett enforce the law similarly to as they do in Elgin, and kids in Bartlett don’t just get sent home,” Heiderscheidt said.
  Heiderscheidt reiterated something he told the board during the approval of School Resource Officer (SRO) contracts earlier this school year that the SROs do routinely meet with him for consistency and arrests “depend on the circumstances.” He added fights don’t result in arrest but rather “disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace” does.
  Board member Veronica Noland said she’s “heard rumors of gang activity” and asked what the district is doing in response. Heiderscheidt said U-46 has “come a long way” in his 10 years, and police departments have an “information sharing agreement” to try and identify kids who show signs of gang activity before becoming officially involved and they “work with kids on changing” their behavior.
  Fleury said Elgin’s police gang unit works with schools to identify gang colors and signs of gang activity, and working with SROs they “discuss people who maybe not gang members but maybe they’re starting to get gang involved” and will do home visits with their families.
  Cynthia Schenk, who spoke during public comments to defend Ward for a controversy sparked by Ellis who asked her supporters to come out to reprimand Ward for a Facebook post, noted the presentation in her comments and said parental responsibility appears to have been taken over by the government schools.
  “Only at the end was it suggested that the parents be held accountable… The rest of the presentation was about the schools being the parent,” Schenk said.

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