The district will be launching the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System through the non-profit group Sandy Hook Promise before Thursday, Nov. 7 as a way to provide students with an app to anonymously report concerns.

Director of Guidance Lisa Connery views the app as a proactive measure that students can use to report anything of concern.

“Maybe you have a concern about a student being in an abusive relationship [or] it could be [about] substance use. It could be suicidality; it could be a threat against a student or maybe the school,” Connery said. “Whatever it might be, we want to proactively provide students with a way to share what they know.” 

During double third period, students will watch a training video created by Sandy Hook Promise that addresses what warning signs to look for and where to find them.

While school adjustment counselor Deborah Guterman feels students are typically comfortable talking to adults in the building about cautionary situations, the goal of the app is to give students who might be more hesitant an avenue to do so.

“In general, I feel like the climate here at Algonquin is very conducive to students coming to adults,” Guterman said. “…Most of the time, I think kids are comfortable doing that, but I think we just want to make sure that we’re covering all of our bases.”

The app involves more than just the Algonquin community. Once a student reports an issue, it will be sent to a Say Something Anonymous Reporting System national crisis center where it will be categorized as either life-threatening or nonlife-threatening.

Situations assessed as life-threatening will be sent to the police department to be dealt with immediately, while nonlife-threatening situations will be sent to the school to develop a plan that will better support the students involved.

“[The implementation of the app] makes us feel comfortable because even though students do a really nice job coming down to us during the school day, we have felt like there’s this void after hours, on the weekends, during the summer, vacations, when students might be outreaching other students,” Connery said. “Then what you do with this information? We really appreciate the fact that there is the [Say Something Anonymous Reporting System] national crisis center that is associated with [the app] that can help us field some that information after hours, and then help take some proactive measures to support the student.” 

Other school districts have used the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System and have seen positive results.

“There’s been a lot of research on this particular app and what’s associated with it, and it works,” Guterman said. “It kind of fills that gap [when faculty members are not available during off hours].” 

Connery believes the app will be helpful because students see and hear things the adults in the building do not.

“We want to provide an avenue for you guys to share that information without fear… and to put it in the hands of the people who can actually assess the situation,” Connery said.