District 211 already complies with new disciplinary law

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 administrators say they are already nearly compliant with a new state law taking effect in September which restricts the degree to which out-of-school suspensions and expulsions can be used as discipline.

In fact, some neighboring districts have been approaching District 211 for advice on adopting some of the rehabilitative practices already in use there for years, Director of Administrative Services Matthew Hildebrand said.

The new law becomes effective Sept. 15. It limits when a school can boot a kid out of school, leaving him or her on the street without services. It also requires schools to have methods in place that encourage getting students with behavioral issues back into the mainstream curriculum.

District 211 attorney Jennifer Smith said no students have been expelled without services in her eight years in the district.

"These are things I know the district was looking at already, but now it's part of the law."

District 211 recently voted to create its own in-house alternative program for students who otherwise could be expelled. The in-house program will replace its contract with the North Cook Young Adult Academy, which is relocating its nearest site from Palatine to Des Plaines.

The new program differs from the programs District 211 runs at Academy-North in Palatine and the Higgins Education Center in Hoffman Estates. These are alternative schools for students who may have trouble succeeding in a traditional school environment, but not always for behavioral reasons.

In the last seven years, District 211 has reduced disciplinary referrals by 38 percent, Hildebrand said. The high schools have implemented practices that encourage good behavior and which match the individual character of each campus, he added.

He said the district's changing demographics are what motivated the changes. Students now come to District 211 from very different environments, unclear about the expectations, he said.

Another area in which District 211 is already compliant with the new law is in the bill's discouragement of zero-tolerance policies. The district has none, instead addressing extreme behavioral issues on a case-by-case basis.

Some specific language changes need to be made in district policies, but existing practices are already compliant with the new law, Hildebrand said.

District 211 isn't alone in being ahead of the curve, but some Illinois schools will spend a lot of time this summer getting compliant with the new law, he said.