U-46 schools to begin random searches, support program

Weapons prevention and positive behavior reinforcement work hand-in-hand, the Elgin Area School District U-46 community heard Thursday night.

District safety coordinator John Heiderscheidt told the Citizens Advisory Council about the weapons-prevention program to be rolled out to all U-46 high schools by early April.

Under the plan, students will be randomly checked for weapons with a hand-held metal detector in six classrooms twice per month.

Only school administrators can use the devices, Heiderscheidt said. Police liaison officers will not participate in random searches.

Community members at the meeting had the opportunity to scan one another with metal detectors used in the searches.

"It's not a comfortable feeling and your students are going to feel that," Heiderscheidt told the group.

Elgin High School has used the prevention program since 1992, after a student stabbing occurred.

U-46 first announced it would use the program at all high schools Feb. 16.

U-46 has communicated the plan to parents via its ConnectEd phone messaging system, and has sent letters home, Heiderscheidt said.

"The message has to be strong," he said. "We need the kids to trust the adults in the school building enough that they'll tell us when a peer is thinking about hurting someone," he said.

After Heiderscheidt's presentation, Marlene Bergman, safe and drug-free schools coordinator, highlighted the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support program.

Developed at the University of Oregon in 1994, the program has "spread across the country like wildfire," Bergman said. Already used by more than half the district's schools, the program will be implemented at all elementary and middle schools next fall. Addressing social-emotional behavior in some capacity is a state requirement for the 2008-2009 school year, assistant superintendent for administrative services Lalo Ponce said.

Three levels of interventions are used, Bergman explained. At the widest level, positive behavior and expectations are communicated to all students at a school.

At the second level, group interventions target approximately 5 to 10 percent of the school's students who need additional help.

At the third level, about 1 to 5 percent of students receive specialized individual or family interventions, in addition to the other two interventions.

Schools keep data on each student's performance, and must show that they are addressing the social and emotional learning goals of students in their curriculum, Bergman said.

"PBIS gives everyone within the school and the school community the same language."

Benefits include an increase in test scores, a drop in office-discipline referrals and better family relationships, Bergman said.

"This doesn't just end at school. It's the way we live and interact with one another."