By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – The Humboldt Community School District will be providing a new tool for reporting situations where student safety might be at risk.
Information has been sent out to parents and other parties about the Safe Schools Helpline that the Humboldt CSD will be utilizing. High School Assistant Principal Abby Horbach says studying data from other districts has led to the decision to include this service in Humboldt.
The Safe Schools Hotline provides parents and students opportunity to make a report anonymously 24/7 through either a call line, text or by using the mobile app. “You will make your report, give the information” the assistant principal says. “You can choose to remain anonymous or you can give your name.”
After the initial report is made the schools are able to ask follow up questions to obtain any information that might have been left out. The report will then be sent to the specific school of the student of concern. If it is an emergency the Humboldt County Law Enforcement Center will receive the call.
Going into the school year the district set a goal of making the schools a safe place for the students and this hotline is a step in the right direction. Horbach says “we want all students to feel safe both at home, in the community and at school.” She says that often times students don’t feel comfortable reporting directly to an adult when a situation arise because they feel like they are “tattling” or being a “snitch.”
This is why the schools wanted to provide that anonymous tool for students and parent to report a situation. Horbach says such situations include “safety, violence, anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.”
To further elaborate the assistant principal says that they hope this tool helps the schools better nip situations in the bud before the sprout into more serious situations. “A lot of times we’ve had things come to the office and they say ‘oh this has been going on for a long time.’” The reasoning for not reporting it sooner is almost always a lack of comfort in doing so.
“So that’s what we’re hoping is those little things, that we can really help students feel like more of a community and feel safe at school, that they will report so we’re aware if it’s going on. It’s one of those things, if we don’t know it’s going on, we can’t address it. So that’s what we’re really stressing to students too is if you don’t feel safe or something is going on, please let us know immediately.”
For more information about the Safe School Hotline is available at safeschoolhelpline.com. A report can also be made through this same location.