West Cook News

Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Kathi Griffin is now working with Springfield lawmakers Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) and Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Streamwood) in making sure school districts are following the letter of the law in complying with school threat laws.

“What happened in Michigan two weeks ago is a tragedy,” Griffin said in a news release of the Oxford High school shooting that left four students dead in late November. “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.”

McCombie took the stage during a recent news conference to express her agreement with Griffin’s position and to push legislation that seeks to verify that school districts are complying with the letter of the law.

“Our children's safety has to come first,” McCombie said. “There are so many different mandates and guidelines that school boards and administration and our (Regional Offices of Education) and (the 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, also known as HB 1561, was first introduced and ultimately passed by state lawmakers in 2019. The law instructs schools to develop a threat assessment team and a threat assessment protocol, requires school districts to implement a threat assessment 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.”