ELGIN, Ill. — Elgin School District U46 integrated a staff training program from the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) to give its employees the skills to defuse tense situations on school grounds. Over the past three years, between 850 and 900 students in the district have been suspended for fighting each year.

This school year, the district is on track to reduce the number of fighting-related suspensions by 25 to 30 percent, The Courier-News reports. In the summer of 2009, the district provided CPI training to all the dean’s assistants, which reduced incidents of students assaulting staff members by 90 percent.

The CPI training teaches employees not to invade a student’s personal space during a conflict and to speak in a carefully modulated volume. Also, staff members are instructed to pull two fighting students apart rather than insert themselves in the middle of the fight. 

By the end of this school year, 674 employees will have received the training, including bus drivers and the entire staff of Streamwood High School.  

Read the full story.

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