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.
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.
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Impact Level |
Notification Response |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
Media releases may be distributed to the media. |
Important Points to Remember:
Staff:
Important Points to Use to Remind Families of the New Communication Tool:
Officer Michael Camilo is the school resource officer for District 70. He can be reached at mcamilo@d70schools.org.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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Registration is now open for D70 Summer School.
Summer School will run from 8:15 to 11:45 a.m. on Monday through Thursday, from June 20 through July 20 at Copeland Manor School.
Please register through your Parent PowerSchool link.
