ALGONQUIN -- Earlier this month, Jacobs High School Principal Michael Bregy gave his cell phone number to students. All of them. Over the high school's Friday morning announcements.
"Crazy, right?" Bregy said over the school's intercom system.
(Michael Smart/Staff photographer)
"I just gave out my personal cell phone number to 2,500 high school students! I do this because I truly care about your well-being and the 250 adults that spend more time in this building than they do with their own families."
In his announcement, the principal asked all students and staff to text-message him anytime day or night with safety-related concerns or to report a school disruption. Some of those things could include knowledge of students with drugs, alcohol or weapons; gang-related activity; or a planned student fight on school property.
Bregy said his highest priority as principal of Jacobs is its students' safety, even though "there's no reason to believe the school is unsafe or there is a situation that's building."
"Kids are pretty respectful in our building," he said. "They want to go to a good school."
That's why he said he needs them to be his eyes and ears. And he knows he needs to be as accessible as possible for that to work.
Over the weekend, Bregy said he received about 70 text messages from students.
At least 50 were along the lines of "Thanx 4 caring." Another five or six: "Is this rly U?" A few asked whether Monday was a late-start day. Only one appeared to be prank, Bregy said, sent during the Sunday night Chicago Bears football game.
He answered every one -- not hard to do when you're texting, he pointed out.
"That's the nice thing about texting," he said. "No one asks questions that require a dissertation to answer."
And, he added, it's important "for them to know there is someone who cares for them and will address their concerns."
Other nice things about texting? Because Bregy doesn't have students' contact information saved in his phone, their messages are confidential. It's also how the teens are communicating, he's found.
Bregy starting asking students at the beginning of the school year: Do you call or text your parents? Do you call or text your friends? Your boyfriend or girlfriend?
"At least 90 percent said they text them," he said.
And it's an immediate response. That's something teenagers expect, thanks to texting, as well as Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook and mobile access to the Web.
That's something Bregy said he might not have realized if he weren't "part of the culture."
As part of the Jacobs' School Administration Management program, the principal dresses down and does his homework about once a week, joining classrooms as a student to better evaluate the teachers on his staff.
"Because I'm part of their culture, I understand it and how to connect," he said. "If I wouldn't have done what I did before, I don't know if I would have come to the decision to text.
"I've become the texting principal."