Safety

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 D70 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 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.

Communication during an incident can vary. Building principals and district administrators will communicate via School Messenger. This could be in the form of an email, a text message, and/or a phone call depending on the severity of the situation. District 70 will use social media sites (when appropriate) to communicate information but will not be the sole source of communication. With school closings, information will also be on the district website. During a moderate or high-impact incident communications will be given as often as possible. Parents can help with communication by ensuring their information is accurate in PowerSchool. If you have a change to your contact information, please contact your building’s administrative assistant to update that information. 

A Low-Impact Incident: In a low-impact incident, there is minimal risk to the safety of students and staff. There will be minimal to no disruptions to a regular school day. While each incident will look differently, a low-impact incident could be: 

• Transportation issues (delayed bussing, bus breakdown, minor bus accident)

• Rescheduling of after-school activities/sports due to weather or off-campus incident

• Soft lockdown* due to off-campus police-related event

• Other situations determined by school administration

A Moderate Impact Incident: A moderate impact incident poses a moderate threat to staff and students and could result in some disruptions to the school day and other school activities.  While each incident will look differently, a moderate impact incident could be: 

• Rescheduling of after-school activities/sports due to weather or off-campus incident with little notice before the cancelation

• Late dismissal due to weather

• Cancelation of school due to weather or a utility disruption

• Soft lockdown* due to an off-campus police-related event

• Other situations determined by school administration

A High Impact Incident: In a high impact incident, there is a high threat to staff and students and could result in significant disruptions to the school day and other school activities.  While each incident will look differently, a high-impact incident could be: 

• Evacuation of a school due to fire or other threat within the school

• Shelter In Place due to weather (tornado)

• Cancelation of school due to weather or a utility disruption with little to no notice

• Lockdown due to an immediate threat to students and staff 

 

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.

In practice, it’s not clear how many school police actually have had this training or similar types. States set different requirements for what training SROs need to have before working in schools.

What do school resource officers do?

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.

Federal data estimate that in the 2015-16 school year, there were some 52,000 full or part-time SROs in schools at least once a week, plus another 15,500 sworn law enforcement officers in schools who were not SROs.

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.

To report a bullying incident. 

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.

Libertyville Firearm Safety 

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. 

Be SMART - Firearm Safety at Home

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;
• RECOGNIZE the role of guns in suicides;
• TELL your peers to be smart.

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.

Firearm Restraining Order 

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.)