What U-46's security expert learned from attack

In January 2008, 16-year-old Angel Facio stabbed Elgin High School teacher Carolyn Gilbert. She survived, but was seriously injured. Facio talked recently for the first time about attacking his teacher. Daily Herald Staff Writer Kerry Lester previously wrote a three-part series about Gilbert and her physical and emotional recovery. You can read the 2009 Gilbert series here. Below is some of the paper's earlier coverage of the attack.

As Elgin High's last final exam concluded this January, John Heiderscheidt was standing outside Carolyn Gilbert's classroom.

He knew the family and consumer science teacher's thoughts would naturally be focused on the attack that happened, nearly to the minute, one year before.

#8220;It was for no other purpose, but I wanted to change her frame of mind,#8221; said the safety coordinator of Elgin Area School District U-46.

In a larger sense, Heiderscheidt, a former Buffalo Grove police officer, has tried to refocus the minds of teachers and students in the state's second-largest school district in the months after the stabbing.

After taking care of the immediate tasks, #8220;the role that I had was the recovery. What happened, how it happened, to look for gaps, look for weaknesses, look for strengths,#8221; he said.

The way the Elgin High staff responded to the stabbing, he said, was heroic and nearly textbook.

Still, he said, much could be learned.

At the time of the attack, a uniform safety plan was just getting finished and rolled out in the district. Many staffs in the 53-school district, including Elgin High's, had yet to receive lockdown training.

The attack on Gilbert, Heiderscheidt said, #8220;invigorated and motivated me to make sure that our training message is more specific and practical in Carolyn's honor. To make sure we do what we can to never allow it to happen again.#8221;

Impressing upon staff members and law enforcement agencies why information should be shared is an important focus, Heiderscheidt said.

Reciprocal reporting agreements between U-46 and the 11 communities it encompasses have now been established everywhere except Schaumburg and unincorporated Cook and DuPage counties, Heiderscheidt said.

Shortly after the attack, information emerged that Angel Facio, the student who stabbed Gilbert, had been accused of two other crimes #8212; the rape of an 8-year-old girl in his Elgin neighborhood and the attempted abduction of a 13-year-old student at Elgin's Larsen Middle School.

Could the attack on Gilbert have been prevented if information had been shared earlier?

Because Facio was not charged with either additional crime until after the Jan. 18 stabbing, Heiderscheidt said #8220;ultimately we'll never know.#8221;

Few red flags, besides the discovery of a personal journal of Angel's, revealed trouble to school officials.

#8220;We had a very sick child who hid it well,#8221; Principal Dave Smiley said.

Facio's seemingly normal behavior fits the pattern of individuals who commit crimes at schools, like Northern Illinois University and Columbine.

The Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education's 2002 Safe School Initiative Study, which analyzed data from 1974 to 2000, found that 63 percent of students who conducted targeted violence had never been in trouble before at school.

#8220;We have myths about kids who do these things,#8221; Heiderscheidt said. #8220;What do we see in schools? We see behavioral signs. If we learn and talk about those, we're going to be better at what we do every day.#8221;

Despite expanding the weapons prevention program at the district's five high schools and its middle schools, stationary metal detectors aren't likely to come to U-46.

#8220;Metal detectors at a schoolhouse gate change the environment,#8221; Heiderscheidt said. #8220; ... Although they do catch some things, I would tell you that it's not foolproof. There is no foolproof system.#8221;

The safety of a school, he believes, is largely about its staff.

Gilbert, Heiderscheidt said, #8220;is a strong lady to begin with. She works in a school for a reason. Some people can't understand why she would be doing what she's doing. It's because that's her vocation. It's her passion. It's what she does. If not, you're allowing a tragedy to permanently affect your life. Here she's back, and she's doing what she loves to do.#8221;