Chicago Schools Not Reporting Crimes to State Database
CHICAGO – Out of Chicago’s 2,124 schools, only 646 report incidents to the Illinois State Board of Education’s School Incident Reporting Systems (SIRS).
Illinois law states that schools must report all incidents of weapons, assaults and drugs to both local police and Illinois State Police. Because the law also mandates that the information should be available to the public, the school board developed the SIRS database, which allows parents to learn about every incident that occurs at every school in the state.
However, a recent investigation conducted by NBC 5, determined that the majority of schools in Chicago do not comply with the law. Additionally, there are no penalties for any school that chooses not to report to SIRS.
In 2012, Susan Garrett, a former state senator, introduced legislation to strengthen and clarify the laws that require schools to report incidents. However, the bill did not pass; thus, the law continues to be unclear for schools.
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