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Regional Office of Education highlights school upgrades; ClearArmor laminate installed at 21 high-school entrances with cannabis funds
Summary
Will County Regional Superintendent Lisa Caparelli Ruff told the board Oct. 16 that Lincoln School received facility upgrades and that the ROE used cannabis funds to place shooter-resistant laminate at the main entrances of 21 county high schools.
Will County Regional Superintendent Lisa Caparelli Ruff updated the county board Oct. 16 on the Regional Office of Education's (ROE) programs, facility upgrades and safety initiatives, and answered members' questions about funding and next steps.
Key ROE items
- Lincoln School upgrades: Caparelli Ruff said Lincoln School received new paint, updated kitchen equipment (double oven, refrigerator, freezer), a second-floor bathroom and new cameras. She noted the school partnered with Joliet Junior College to offer dual-credit opportunities for students.
- Alternative Learning Opportunities Program (ALOP): The ROE expanded a pilot program designed to support at-risk students. Caparelli Ruff said advocates in buildings carry caseloads capped at 32 students each and help develop Student Success Plans focused on attendance, grades and social-emotional growth.
- Truancy and juvenile interventions: Since February 2024 the ROE reported 209 new referrals from 25 districts; 49 of those cases required court petitions. Caparelli Ruff said interventions include risk assessments via juvenile probation and connections to counseling services.
School safety and ClearArmor laminate
Caparelli Ruff described a countywide shooter-resistant window laminate initiative in which the ROE reinforced one entrance and one exit at each of Will County's 21 high schools with a protective film intended to delay forced entry and slow breaches. Caparelli Ruff said the first phase was funded in part through cannabis excise revenue and that "it was due to you guys through the cannabis budget, first of $75,000 last year, and that's what enabled us to obtain the protective film on the high schools in Will County."
ClearArmor, the vendor that installed the film, provided a brief public explanation after the ROE report. Kyle Hunter, director of sales at ClearArmor, described the product and installation practice during public comment: "For schools, specifically, we go with the 15 mil laminate... The 15 mil product is not bulletproof. It's a shooter resistant laminate. It's just designed to keep somebody out of the building... It can withstand being shot several times... but it's just to buy time for the SRO inside to do what they need to do."
Caparelli Ruff said the laminate also provides weather protection and that phase 2 (junior highs) and phase 3 (elementary) would require additional funding; she indicated an ask for further cannabis fund allocations to continue the work.
Questions from board members covered prevailing wage for installers (ClearArmor said its installers are W-2 employees paid at or above prevailing wage), durability and testing (the vendor said demonstrations are available at their Grayslake facility) and whether further phases were included in the ROE budget (Caparelli Ruff said phase 2 and 3 are not currently budgeted and she requested future cannabis funds for expansion).
Other ROE work
Caparelli Ruff also highlighted countywide events (backpack distribution and dental van access), a countywide truancy summit and an Educators of Excellence awards program launching this year to recognize teachers and student-support personnel.
