PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – While Peoria’s Public School Board heard an update on school safety, they didn’t touch on the fights that have reportedly occurred within the first two weeks of school.
25News has video of fights that occurred last week at Manual High School. Peoria’ Federation of Teachers posted on their Facebook page referencing two other fights.
Video shows multiple fights, PPS Supt. said pepper spray needed to break them up
Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria joined Director of School Safety Demario Boone to update the board on security at the schools, but the presentation focused largely on preventing outside threats like school shootings or intruders.
There has been a large increase in cameras on school grounds. Boone and his department have also worked to improve and upgrade intercom systems and door security measures. They lauded programs like Tip411, Intellisee, and Gaggle for providing an extra set of eyes on students.
Gaggle is a program that monitors computers provided by schools for talk of self-harm or other dangerous behavior. When self-harming or violent language is used, administrators get an alert.
Intellisee analyzes security video in real-time for objects that could be weapons. It was added to PPS’ security arsenal following the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, where the gunman was able to easily enter the school.
Boone argues this system would send an immediate alert, which could help security officers respond faster in the event of an emergency.
Tip411 allows someone to submit an anonymous tip to law enforcement. Officers can text back and forth with the tipster.
Boone referenced a recent case where a student was posting pictures of themselves with guns online. Someone anonymously submitted the tip. Officers were then sent to that student’s home to locate the weapons and discuss online safety. The weapons posted online were BB guns.
“A lot of the information we have and we share, it’s not to go and arrest a child,” Echevarria said. “It’s not to go put some handcuffs on them and take them away but to intervene and find a solution to the issue.”
Neither chief mentioned the recent fights. The topic was not addressed by the board or mentioned in public comment.
Parents and teachers from Kellar Primary School expressed concern over staffing and class sizes, saying some are too big and families are being sent to different schools.
The comments to the board fit into a larger theme of understaffing in the district, according to the public speakers. Dr Sharon Desmoulin Kherat said the district continually has a problem with class sizes. The process for deciding how many students go into each classroom is made by a committee, according to Kherat.
When a parent register may determine if they are moved to another school.
“This is nothing new for us, we go through it every year,” Kherat said. “There are so many factors that are injected in as we go through this in real-time.”
There are around 12,000 students in the district this year. People who addressed the board still feel there is a mismanagement of resources that is causing staff to leave the district or the teaching profession.
