Trust and Optimism Have Never Been More Important

By Thomas E. Bertrand

The historic crisis that our country has been immersed in since last March has challenged all of us personally and professionally. The convergence of a global pandemic, economic recession, and civil unrest related to issues of social and racial justice produced historic challenges for all organizations. I often turn to books and stories to help me gain a new perspective and to navigate the new reality brought on by a crisis.
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
David Horsager, Global Trust Expert

From the Field

Monitoring: How Will You Know When You Get There?

By Reatha Owen

... Monitoring organizational effectiveness is the measurement of how
successfully — or not — the district is achieving its mission through
district goals and core strategies. In other words, organizational efficiency
is the capacity of the district to produce the desired ends with the
resources, such as funding and staff, that it has available.
IASB’s Foundational Principles of Effective Governance

Policy Page

Intertwined: School Safety and SEL

By Maryam Brotine

If you had asked me a year ago, in the pre-COVID era, about “school safety and security,” I would have immediately thought of threat assessment procedures and school shootings.
Illinois State Board of Education SEL homepage
Illinois SEL Learning Standards
ISBE Emotional Intelligence and Social and Emotional Learning Task Force
CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development:
From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope

Threat Assessment: Protecting Students and Schools

Provided by the United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center
Introduction by Theresa Kelly Gegen

There is no single profile of a school shooter, nor is there a typical victim. No school type or location is more likely to be targeted. Fear and concern are grave and universal.
Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence
Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence

Commentary
Beginning an Adult SEL Program in a Pandemic World

By Pamela R. Rockwood

Through their elected governance role, Illinois school board members represent the interests of approximately two million public school children. One of their top priorities is ensuring safety in the schools in their respective districts. With school safety come terms such as “preparedness” and “threat assessment.” …

Personal Assessment and Reflection — SEL Competencies for School Leaders, Staff, and Adults from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning;
Self-Assess Social and Emotional Instruction and Competencies from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at American Institutes for Research; or
Panorama’s Adult SEL Measures from Panoramaed.

Adult SEL frameworks from Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wisconsin, or Washington);

Safe2Help Illinois Offers Reporting Resources, Curriculum

Provided by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force and Illinois Emergency Management Agency

The State of Illinois is developing a school safety program called Safe-
2Help Illinois in an effort to raise awareness of 21st-century threats
facing schoolchildren in Illinois. In the absence of a trusted adult, Safe2Help Illinois offers students a safe, confidential way in which to
share information that might help prevent suicides, bullying, school
violence, or other threats to school safety. This program is not intended
to suspend, expel, or punish students. Rather, the goal is to get students
to “Seek Help Before Harm.” Safe2Help Illinois will also develop
an educational curriculum aimed at changing the culture in Illinois
schools while also providing the resources to help parents and educators
reinforce the components of this program.
Safe2Help Illinois

November/December 2020

Leadership Letter