PEORIA (25News Now) -The new school year is nearly a month underway, and school safety remains a top concern for Peoria Public Schools.
Demario Boone, the district’s director of School Safety, said school safety is the district’s top priority.
The district’s approach includes bag checks, student behavioral threat assessments and interventions when threats are reported. Those threats can involve students, parents or staff.
“The Department of School Safety was built in the 1970s, when other school district had a department like ours. We’re ahead of the curve on threat assessments,” said Boone.
Boone said school safety assessments help determine the level of a threat and what safety measures should be put in place.
The district also works with community partners and uses programs such as The Wraparound Center and online therapy to connect students with additional support.
Boone said addressing violence requires looking beyond what happens inside school buildings.
“We have to start way back with redlining and poverty and why people are put in specific situations and why families and generations pass that down to their children and why children act out,” Boone said.
He said adults and parents also have an important role in creating a safer environment for children.
“We have to look at the village. We have to look at, as adults and parents, how we’re showing up for our kids, what examples are we showing them,” Boone said.
“We have to work collectively as a village. The school district is a huge asset and we do a lot of things here to help, but it is not solely a school district problem. It is a village issue that we all need to collectively work on, Boone added.
Dr. Jerry Bell, superintendent of Peoria Public Schools, also released a statement supporting the district’s safety measures.
“As superintendent of Peoria Public Schools, I fully support the comprehensive school safety measures put in place to protect our students, staff, and visitors.”
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