Rock Island Today

State Reps. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates) and Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) recently spoke on new legislation similar to a 2019 bill that is intended to track which school districts had not been following current Illinois laws regarding threat assessments. 

They held a recent news conference to announce their effort just weeks after the Oxford High School tragedy that left four Michigan students dead and seven injured, though apparent signs should have led the school and parents to take action before any harm was caused. Offering his condolences, Crespo said situations like this make threat assessment protocol a necessity. 

“It is basically a violence prevention strategy, it’s not driven by punitive measures,” Crespo said, speaking on the legislation. “On the contrary, it's intended to help students and make sure that we keep teachers and students safe.”

The proposed legislation requires each school district to implement a threat assessment procedure and team so that teachers do not have to spend their days worrying about the safety of themselves and their students. When House Bill 1561 was signed in August 2019, Crespo said, it made it clear that schools would have 180 days to put the procedure in place and implement a team. 

“That’s what we intend to do moving forward is make sure working with (the Illinois Education Association) and Rep. McCombie to make sure that schools are held accountable and we are able to monitor that they in fact are abiding by the statute that we passed in 2019,” Crespo added. 

McCombie, who worked with Crespo on the original legislation, underscored his concerns, stating public safety is the top priority and that this is not a political issue. 

“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 a lot of them are for health, life and safety. And this is one of those.”

The 2019 legislation passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. 

With the new legislation, McCombie said the threat assessment plan will be checked every four years through a compliance audit with ROE and the ISBE. The school boards will also have to review these assessments annually to allow for more accountability, public safety and transparency. 

While McCombie said Illinois is typically a very reactive state in their legislation, this is a circumstance where they are being proactive to prevent tragedies like the one in Michigan.