school safety

Safety & Security

Genoa-Kingston School District strives to maintain a safe, welcoming environment for all students. 

Communication in Emergency/Crisis Situation

Depending on the circumstances, there are times when we communicate with all families within the school district; all families at a school; all families in a specific grade or classroom at a school; or only the families of students involved in a situation.

• Messages may come from the superintendent, a department leader or a school principal.

• These communications are typically sent via email and text messages, often using Thrillshare for it to reach all families and is in their preferred language.

• Depending on the situation, information may also be shared through other communication channels such as social media, web pop-up messages and communication to local news outlets.

Report an Online Threat

Report an online threat through the Genoa-Kingston School District 424 online threat form. Please complete the form including as much detail as possible. Please know that lack of information will hinder an investigation into the threat. 

Report a Concern/Threat

Emergency/Crisis Communication Verbiage Terms

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Community Hold

“Get inside, free to move within building, no visitors”

This can be an event happening near school but not affiliated with school that requires police or fire response.

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Secure & Teach

“In your classroom, get inside, lock outside doors”

When an urgent or medical incident occurs to a student or staff. Everyone should return to their classrooms, no one should be in the hallways or outside.

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Lockdown

"Locks, lights, out of sight and silent”

Students and staff outside of classrooms should get inside the nearest room. The door needs to be locked, lights are off and no one should be visible from a window.

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ALICE Lockdown/Evacuation

“Exit the building, if safe to do so”

When a threat occurs that would be necessary for staff and students to move outside the building when it is no longer safe to stay inside.

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Severe Weather

“Take shelter from hazard”

Severe weather such as tornado's, flooding, hazmat spills and earthquakes can have students and staff moving to safer locations within the building.

Suicide Prevention

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Safe 2 Help IL
Suicide Prevention Services

Child Abuse / DCFS

125,000 children are abused or neglected each year in Illinois. 1 in 5 children will be abused before they turn 18. 

Crisis Resources

National Domestic Violence Hotline
National Runaway Safeline
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Safe Passage

Bullying Information

View Board Policy

Genoa-Kingston Schools has a zero tolerance policy for bullying.  There are several things that families, community members, and staff members can do to help us create a positive, safe environment for all students.  A 2012 report from the Indicators of School Crime and Safety found that an adult was notified in only 40% of bullying incidents. Evidence of bullying is sometimes visible to educators, sometimes at home, and sometimes not at all. We need to work cooperatively to help stop bullying (Administrators, Staff, Students, and Parents).

Definition of Bullying: is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.

Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

GK Programs & Events

  • PBIS

  • Character Counts

  • Assemblies

  • Kindness Project

  • See It Say It

  • Additional Activities

    • Buddy Bench

    • Paper Crumble Activity

    • Pledge Wall

    • Fill your Bucket

Empowering Our Community to Address Bullying

Cyberbullying: What Parents Need to Know

Technology is here to stay and has changed the world in many ways. Most of those changes have been positive; however, one negative has been the development of a new form of bullying...cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is, when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, cell phone or other digital technology. Usually it is not a one-time thing, repetition or frequency of communication is a major indicator of cyberbullying. Methods include: instant messaging (IM), texting, chatrooms, email, etc.