Safety is a top concern at District 70. Officials have worked to keep students and staff safe through building designs, special equipment such as cameras and identification systems at each school, and training.
District 70 has a Safety Committee composed of staff members across the district which meets regularly to review safety protocols and possible updates and changes.
Key Points For Libertyville School District 70’s Family Notification System
District 70 places a high priority on swiftly communicating with parents in the event of an emergency. We use the SchoolMessenger notification system to send out information through email, phone, and/or text messages. SchoolMessenger is integrated with PowerSchool and delivers messages to the PowerSchool contact information provided by parents/guardians. Emergency information also may be posted on the District website and through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
During an emergency event, the means and immediacy of communication will depend on the scope of the event and on the potential or actual impact on the safety of the students. While it is difficult to describe all possible scenarios, the following can be used as a guide to gauge District 70’s level of notification and systems used to communicate with families.
Impact Level
Notification Response
No Impact Incident: Informational messages from either the principal or superintendent.
Example: School information on upcoming events, early release, no School Days, report cards online, socials, athletic games and/or practices, meetings, Curriculum Night, Open House, Picture Day, concerts, traditional events outside of the school, student council elections and/or events, FA meetings and/or events, parent-teacher conferences, lunch reminders, upcoming assessments, field trips, Marriott shows, book fairs, fundraisers, upcoming testing days, notice of after school or before school events, Parent Nights, Special Parent Night Events, musicals, etc.
School Messenger email notification sent via email.
May also be posted on the Website and Social Media.
A Low Impact Incident: Poses no or minimal risk to the safety of the school. There are no disruptions to regular school activities, and the incident is isolated and does not impact more than one student.
Example: a small issue in one of the schools or the district. A soft lockdown suggested by police due to an off-campus police-related incident, abruptly canceled games, practices, concerts, meetings, events, bus delays, and bus accidents (call family directly if students are injured or will be late). **NOTE: Not every incident will warrant a notification.
SchoolMessenger notification sent via email (home, work, cell) at the beginning of the incident. Targeted text messages also may be used.
May be posted on Website and Social Media.
**Update via email at end of a soft lockdown.
A Moderate Impact Incident: Poses a moderate risk to the school and results in some disruption to school activities.
Example: Weather cancellations or delays, a sudden change of school schedule or sudden cancellation of some major school activities, a utility disruption, hard lockdown, or unexpected late dismissal.
Generally to be handled by District
SchoolMessenger notification sent via email, phone (home, work, cell), and text.
Will be posted on Website and Facebook.
Updates will continue through the incident as necessary.
School cancellations or delays are posted on emergencyclosingcenter.com by the district.
A High Impact Incident: The incident poses a significant risk to the safety of the students, which results in a significant disruption to school activities, change of schedule, evacuation, cancellation of activities, and impacts many students.
Example: An intruder in school or the use of a weapon in school resulting in injuries to students and staff, bomb threat, hard lockdown.
Generally to be handled by District
SchoolMessenger notification sent via email, phone (home, work, cell), and text.
Will be posted on the Website and may be posted on Social Media.
Updates will continue through the incident as necessary.
Media releases may be distributed to the media.
Important Points to Remember:
Staff:
During an emergency incident, remain close to your sources of communication, whether phone or email, to ensure you are in contact with District 70 administrators.
School Messenger is for emergency use as described above. For everyday emails and to communicate general school information, please continue to use WebMan.
Texting
When using School Messenger texting, be sure to start with your school ID (such as Adler or AD, Butterfield or BU, Copeland or CO, Highland or HMS, Rockland or RO). All area schools using School Messenger use the 67587 ID to send messages (D73, D128, etc.) so it’s extremely important to IDENTIFY your school. D70 is reserved for messages from the District office.
Prefix with your building code (AD, RO, CO, BU, HMS)
Given that all area schools are using School Messenger, remember to use texting for very important situations. The family you’re texting may also be getting similar texts from LHS. Be judicious and use extreme discretion.
You may set up bus route lists for your school in School Messenger which pulls them in through PowerSchool. If you are texting families about bus delays, remember to email them as well because not all families have opted-in to receive texts. Remember if students are put on a different route, you will need to text/email families individually because the preset lists in PowerSchool are set to the original route.
Wording on text messages is limited so you can use texts to point to a very important email you’ve sent if the email would explain it more completely. Example: HMS - Please see important email on bus delays.
Phone Calls
Use phone calls sparingly, if at all. Sending too many recorded messages tends to create a numbness where people begin ignoring them altogether, which could create serious repercussions in an emergency.
I Don’t Know What To Do -When in doubt, ask for guidance from the Communications Department.
Important Points to Use to Remind Families of the New Communication Tool:
Families remember your school has emergency operations plans in place. Each school has a site-specific plan. Teachers, administrators, and staff have been trained and have completed drills using this plan.
Families to be sure their emergency contact information is updated whenever there is a change.
Families who wish to receive text messages must opt-in to utilize this service. If families think their contact information may need updating in PowerSchool, please advise them to first contact your school to verify that they have the correct cell phone number on file. Then manually opt-in by texting “Y” to 67587. It takes up to 48 hours to register the new number in the system.
Families - please remember: “Please be sure to listen to, or read the entire message.”
Families - Do not call or go to your child’s school during an actual emergency. School staff will be busy responding to the emergency and addressing the needs of students. Calling the school will only tie up phone lines that must be used for emergency communications with staff and emergency responders. Please do not go to your child’s school unless you have received direction from the school or district officials.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation as we work together to ensure the safest environment for our students. We are fortunate to have such a committed and involved community in District 70.
Officer Michael Camilo is the school resource officer for District 70. He can be reached at mcamilo@d70schools.org.
*What is a school resource officer? Are SROs armed?
A school resource officer is a sworn law-enforcement officer with arrest powers who works, either full or part-time, in a school setting. Nearly all SROs are armed (about 91 percent, according to federal data), and most carry other restraints like handcuffs as well.
What does school resource officer training look like?
The main difference separating an SRO from other police officers is that, in theory, they have had some special training on how to work with youths. A membership group for SROs, the National Association of School Resource Officers, offers several such courses. NASRO’s basic 40-hour training includes some content on the adolescent brain, cyber safety, and violence prevention in schools, among other topics.
As for daily duties, NASRO indicates that officers play a tripartite role in law enforcement, informal mentoring and counseling, and some in-person teaching. In this sense, the theory of school-based policing is aligned with that of community policing: using local partnerships with other public entities to bring more resources to bear on safety.
SROs can improve relationships between students and law enforcement, serve as protectors for victimized students, and reduce the burden on local law enforcement.
School resource officer statistics: How many SROs are there?
SROs are not required to register in any kind of national database, so there are only estimates of their numbers—no firm tally.
Another way to examine this picture is to look at the proportion of schools that employ an SRO. The most recent federal data available, from the 2017-18 school year, show that about 45 percent of schools had an SRO in place at least once a week. (Another 13 percent of schools reported hosting police who were not SROs.) This represents a steady growth over the last few decades; only 32 percent of schools reported having an SRO in 2005-06.
As these data suggest, an SRO may not be stationed in just one school; some are responsible for several campuses.
Why has the number of school resource officers grown?
Although school policing has been around since at least the late 1950s, it expanded notably in the 1990s due to three major factors: concerns about rising rates of juvenile crime in the 1990s, the federal government’s funding of community policing programs beginning with the 1994 crime bill and its establishment of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program, and the 1999 Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colo.
In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice began specifically making grants to increase the number of SROs in schools through the COPS in Schools program, resulting by some estimates more than $700 million being granted to districts to hire SROs between 1999 and 2005. That grant has ended but districts can still receive federal grants through the broader COPS funding.
*Bulk of section taken from an article on School Resource Officers by Education Week, Nov. 16, 2021.
District 70 is dedicated to the social-emotional development and safety of all children. We believe a student's right to feel safe in school is paramount and contributes significantly to his or her capacity for learning. All District 70 schools have a protocol for reporting harassment and bullying and we are guided by Board of Education policies.
Safe2Help Illinois also has 24/7 help available via a hotline (844-4-SAFEIL), a text line (72332), and email (HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com) -- plus a website full of resources for young people seeking help for themselves or a friend. Safe2Help Illinois provides a confidential way for students to share safety concerns. Its Ways To Get Help page is a directory of specialized hotlines, and other sections of its website provide practical steps for dealing with depression or helping a distraught friend. The checklist called 20 Questions To Ask Yourself If You Feel Like Giving Up can help a teenager overcome a bout of anxiety or depression.
Ways to get help:
Contact Safe2Help Illinois: Dial 844-4-SAFEIL, Text SAFE2 (72332), email HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com
Dial 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line
Text-a-Tip: 24/7 anonymous support for students who need help for themselves or a friend. Text "LAKECO" to 1-844-823-5323 to connect with a local fully licensed mental health professional.
Teaching firearm safety is not new in District 70 as the school district has long partnered with the Libertyville Fire Dept. on teaching a variety of safety practices, including firearm safety and firearm injury prevention, in the schools through the Risk Watch Program.
Research shows that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to an 85% reduction in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens. Storing firearms securely and separately from ammunition protects children in homes and the community. This year, Libertyville School District 70 and the Libertyville Police Department will host a parent/guardian and community information night on firearm storage safety with Be SMART. Be SMART helps parents and other adults normalize conversations surrounding gun safety and take responsible actions that can prevent gun deaths and injuries.
Be SMART
SECURE all guns in homes and vehicles;
MODEL responsible behavior around guns;
ASK about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes;
The Libertyville Police Department offers free gun locks to any resident. The locks can be picked up at the Libertyville Police Department, 200 E. Cook Ave.
The locks are typically available for pick-up Monday through Friday during the day. No identification is required when picking them up, and no one who requests the lock will be questioned as to their residency. Two locks per household are available.
In Illinois, the Firearms Restraining Order (FRO) allows family/household members and law enforcement to work with courts to temporarily remove guns and prevent the purchase of new guns by individuals who pose a significant risk of harm to themselves or others. The FRO is a civil procedure, not a criminal one. The goal is to ensure the safety of the individual and those around them.
The FRO requires the temporary removal of guns from the subject of the order and prohibits new purchases for the duration of the order. This creates safer circumstances for the individual to seek treatment, stabilize their behavior or access resources to address their behaviors.
Information from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office regarding this process can be found on the Lake County website under Firearm Restraining Order.
720 ILCS 5/24-9 Sec. 24-9. Firearms; Child Protection. (a) Except as provided in subsection (c), it is unlawful for any person to store or leave, within premises under his or her control, a firearm if the person knows or has reason to believe that a minor under the age of 14 years who does not have a Firearm Owners Identification Card is likely to gain access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor's parent, guardian, or person having charge of the minor, and the minor causes death or great bodily harm with the firearm, unless the firearm is: (1) secured by a device or mechanism, other than the
firearm safety, designed to render a firearm temporarily inoperable; or
(2) placed in a securely locked box or container; or (3) placed in some other location that a reasonable
person would believe to be secure from a minor under the age of 14 years.
(b) Sentence. A person who violates this Section is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than $1,000. A second or subsequent violation of this Section is a Class A misdemeanor. (c) Subsection (a) does not apply: (1) if the minor under 14 years of age gains access
to a firearm and uses it in a lawful act of self-defense or defense of another; or
(2) to any firearm obtained by a minor under the age
of 14 because of an unlawful entry of the premises by the minor or another person.
(d) For the purposes of this Section, "firearm" has the meaning ascribed to it in Section 1.1 of the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. (Source: P.A. 91-18, eff. 1-1-00.)