Text-messaging effort pays off at Algonquin school

On a school night in early November, Jacobs High School Principal Michael Bregy was trying to get a few hours' rest before waking up at 3:30 a.m. to exercise and get ready for work.

Those plans were interrupted at 10:45 p.m. when Bregy received a text message.

One of his students, the message said, was seriously depressed and contemplating suicide.

He wrote back to the sender, asking the person to call. A female student promptly phoned and told him one of her friends had posted disturbing messages on her Facebook page.

Bregy contacted Algonquin police, which immediately dispatched officers to the troubled student's house. The girl was hospitalized that night and now is getting the support she needs, Bregy said.

The crisis was a big, early test of Bregy's decision just a few weeks earlier to share his personal cell phone number with the 2,400 students at his Algonquin school.

"Right then and there, that solidified for me that that was the right decision, even though it was bold," Bregy said.

Given its apparent success, Bregy's text-messaging effort could be a model for other area schools, particularly Dundee-Crown and Hampshire high schools, Jacobs' counterparts in Community Unit District 300.

Bregy gave out his cell phone number hoping to make his school safer by allowing teenagers to communicate with him in a medium with which they are comfortable.

In the less than two months since, he has received about 400 messages from students. In comparison, the school district's anonymous tip line has taken 23 calls in the last year.

"I didn't realize he was getting these kind of numbers," District 300 Safety Officer Gary Chester said Tuesday. "That surely would be an indication that that's something we need to look at districtwide."

Bregy acknowledges that many of the messages were not safety-related, but most were appropriate. Many asked questions about the school policies or calendar, and several offered solid leads allowing Bregy and his staff to head off at least two fights and help students targeted by bullies.

"I definitely think it was the right decision," Bregy said. "I'm very curious to see what the future holds."