One in four school districts in Illinois participates in new program to protect students from threats

DIXON, Ill. (CBS) – Safe2Help is a new statewide 24/7 helpline. The premise is to safeguard students' mental health and physical safety by preventing self-harm, bullying, school shootings, and more.

However, a CBS 2 Investigation discovered that relatively few of the states 850-plus public school districts currently participate.

One of those that does is the Dixon school district.

"We are a lovely, rural community in northwest Illinois," said Margo Empen, Superintendent of Dixon Public Schools.

The town, about two hours west of Chicago, is the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan.

It was also the site of a shooting at Dixon High School in May 2018. 

"You never think it's going to happen," said Empen.

When it does happen close to home, Supt. Empen thinks about prevention. 

"How did we miss this? What was it that we should have known?" she said. "What can we put in place to help us and others in the future?"

Illinois looked west to Colorado. That state had been working on a solution since the Columbine school massacre in 1999.

SAFE2TELL COLORADO

The Columbine shooters talked about their plans before carrying them out. That's why the state launched Safe2Tell in the aftermath. The anonymous reporting helpline began as a non-profit in 2004 and became part of state law three years later.

The program submits annual reports to the legislature and provides other data on its website.

In the 2021-2022 school year, the program received 19,364 reports, 70% more than the previous school year. 97% of those reports were valid. The most common issue reported was suicidal thoughts, followed by bullying.

There are some people who abuse the system intentionally. But it's rare. The most recent annual report noted that 2% of the reports were false.

Valid reports get sent to school leaders, mental health counselors, parents and law enforcement, depending on the nature of the information.

SAFE2HELP ILLINOIS

Two school shooting incidents in 2018 opened the eyes of school administrators in Illinois.

One occurred in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed, and the other at Dixon High School where no one was injured. "The blessing for us is that there were no casualties and we got to learn from the situation," said Jared Shaner, the Dixon High School Principal.

In 2021, Dixon and another district in Illinois joined a pilot to test Safe2Help Illinois, a program similar to the one in Colorado.

"It's been a great program for us," said Shaner.

He said it's changed the way his students ask for help. 

"When a student uses the Safe2Help app, we get an alert on our phone," Shaner said. "There's different categories of what a student may be contacting us about, and then we respond appropriately."

Shaner says the most common report he has received during the past couple of years has been for suicidal thoughts. 

"Usually, they come at night or on the weekends or on holidays," he said.

Statewide from October 2021 through December 2022, the helpline received 1,161 reports. More than 15% of those were marked critical, such as reports about suicidal thoughts.

Those critical reports were likely escalated to 911. 

"We try to respond immediately," Shaner said. W"e usually send an officer to the house."

There are other categories reported statewide. A total of 2.6% involved the threat of a planned school attack. That's approximately 30 reports that specifically trained dispatchers, school leaders and police responded to during the 14 months the program has been in place.

Supt. Empen believes the numbers prove the program has been successful. 

"I have no doubt that it has saved lives from students who have issues with self-harm; from students who are bullied, to ensure that get at it; we cabn stop it," she said.

Safe2Help got written into State Law this year. So far only 202 of the state's 850+ school districts have signed up for the program.

"One of the biggest challenges is changing the mindset of this won't happen here. Unfortunately, 20 years after Columbine, that mentality still exists," said Samantha Kanish, the School Safety Policy Advisor for Safe2Help Illinois.

The program is free to all schools K-12 in the state. And more are signing up, 30 districts since last fall.

"I'm alerted to everything within the district when it comes in that's happening at each individual building," said Supt. Empen.

She added that for 90% of the reports coming in through Safe2Help, the information was not shared previously with an adult in person. 

"This is a safe space for them to provide this information," Empen said.

Safe2Help allows people to report in a variety of ways, many familiar to young people. Using an app is an option, as well as a text message.

"This is information that could escalate," said Supt. Empen. "if we can get to them early enough; if we can find out what's going on and provide those interventions and those supports to our students and perhaps even their families, we can stop what could happen in the future," 

Reporting by phone, email and online are also options.

If your district is interested in Safe2Help, click here.