North Cook News

Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Kathi Griffin has joined forces with Springfield lawmakers Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) and Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Streamwood) in the battle to make certain all aspects of the School Threat Assessment Bill are being adhered to.

The renewed sense of urgency comes in the wake of the Michigan school shooting in which four Oxford High students were killed in late November.

“What happened in Michigan two weeks ago is a tragedy,” Griffin said in a news release. “Every incident where someone in a school is injured at the hand of another is heartbreaking. Violence is increasing in our schools across the state. Our educators should not have to constantly worry about their safety and the safety of their students. School administrators need to take immediate action to keep our students, staff and communities safe.”

In addition to supporting Griffin’s position, McCombie is now pushing legislation that seeks to mandate that all schools are in full compliance with all such school threat laws.

“Our children's safety has to come first,” she said. “There are so many different mandates and guidelines that school boards and administration and our ROEs (Regional Offices of Education) and ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) have to follow and this is one of those. The way this legislation will be crafted is today the threat assessment plan is checked every four years basically through a compliance audit with the ROE and ISBE. The school boards have to review these threat assessments annually.”

In Illinois, the School Threat Assessment Bill, HB 1561, was first introduced and ultimately passed by state lawmakers two years ago.

The law mandates that schools develop a threat assessment team, protocol and procedure that may be part of a school board policy on targeted school violence and prevention, and requires each district’s assessment team to include mental health professionals as well as representatives from state, county and local law enforcement agencies.

“Ideally, in a situation like what happened in Michigan, the threat assessment team would have been called upon and intervened to get the student the help they need before tragedy occurs,” McCombie said. “That’s the intent of these laws. The children of our state are our most important asset. We must ensure threat assessment plans are not only created, but also followed to keep our students safe.”