Over the course of 2021, more minors have been shot in Chicago than have died of COVID-19 in all of the United States, according to data from police and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Across the country, over 4,000 K-12 schools and 900 universities have implemented ALICE Training since the early 2000s.
ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate and is a protocol designed to help students and staff when situations like a mass shooting arise.
District 87 has not adopted this protocol.
So what kind of protocols are in place when it comes to the safety of students?
“It’s in the context of general safety and in the responsibilities of reporting. Principals will meet with kids sometimes in small or large groups to speak about these things…and classroom teachers will do this as well. We do not have a formal process like ALICE…that’s a choice that individual districts make, but we don’t do that,” said Superintendent Barry Reilly.
Unit 5 Communication Relations Director Dayna Brown said Unit 5 does have safety protocols in place when it comes to violent situations, like a mass shooting.
Reports of eye witnesses in Bloomington High School tell Cities that over four separate fights (in different locations of the school) broke out yesterday, Sept. 13 2021, also video footage circulated on social media.
BHS School Resource Officer Scott Day (uniform) is shown on video trying too break up a fight. Chad Wallace, a former Resource Officer in a Georgia school and Team Blue Line founder and Executive Director, said arresting juveniles and dealing with school fights can weigh on you as an officer.
“I enjoyed being a school resource officer. I enjoyed being a part their lives… you’re trying to make a positive impact in their lives. It is tough. The mental part of that is separating the building of a positive relationship in their life and show grace to these kids but you have to have a line set,” said Wallace. “If they cross this line, then you have to take charges. I don’t know how they do arrest in Bloomington with juveniles 17 or above. But it can weigh on you, you want to be there for these kids but you have to keep the peace and be an officer of the law no matter what.”
The Athletic Director Tony Bauman (white shirt) is seen on video being thrown onto the ground by students involved in the massive fight.
The conditions of both Bauman and Day are unknown at this time.
“My kids tell me this is an everyday occurrence. As a parent, it would be nice to be notified of the dangers. Also, my niece was just trying to leave school and almost got slammed into the wall. Scary and dangerous…..you never know what is next. Our kids deserve a safe environment to get an education,” said BHS mother.
Reilly said the district has handbooks that spell out whats allowed and what isn’t. There is a section in the handbook that addresses weapons.
“In there we have things in place to teach kids about good character and the responsibility of reporting things. We teach them to go to the adults and trust them to follow up and take care of that. Those conversations happen at an age-appropriate level across the district.”
Knives in Stevenson students’ back packs
In the Spring 2021 two separate incidents of knives being brought into Stevenson Grade school occurred, according to Reilly. These incidents happened on the same day. The blades were less than three inches long and they were in the book bags of two children both around the age of 8-years old.
“I wasn’t involved in the investigation and follow up with kid, but to my understanding, in at least one of the cases..the kid had heard a rumor about an adult preying on kids after school, we followed up on that with the police and that rumor turned out to be false,” said Reilly. “That was the rationale for why he (the kid) had it on him. These are very rare cases when you talk about elementary students and I am unaware of any cases of this is year.”
Reilly said situations like this don’t happen very often and two in one day is concerning, and it would be more concerning if they were related. Reilly said if there were patterns of violence then that would warrant an investigation.
“If there’s something beyond these incidents going on… oftentimes what’s happening is not something going on in the schools but something outside, in the community, that spills over into the school,” said Reilly. “There’s nothing leading us down a path where were seeing these types of incidents to a large degree. I don’t see a pattern here that is alarming.”
As far as parental notification goes, Reilly said if they know that there are a handful of kids that are aware of violent situations, like knives being in students’ back packs, then they notify those parents.
“What happens is the kids will go home and tell their parents, and by the time it gets home it may be reality, or something close, but because we are talking about 8-year old kids and sometimes the story changes,” said Reilly. “If we know that kids are aware of it that will cause us to think about which parents we need to notify. In this case it was just isolated to the kids who reported and the kids who brought the knives.”
