Behavioral Intervention Team

What is the Behavior Intervention Team?

The Joliet Junior College Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) has been established as a part of the College Campus Violence Prevention Plan and shall operate under the auspices of the JJC Campus Violence Prevention Committee. The primary purpose for the establishment of the BIT (hereafter referred to as Team) is to create an interdisciplinary alliance of College departments with the focus on a caring, preventative, early intervention with students whose behavior is disruptive or concerning. In addition, the team investigates reports of potential or real violence that have occurred or potentially may occur within the College community related to students. The College recognizes the importance of interdepartmental communication in helping to identify and respond to such acts of violence against self or others.

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  • Purpose

    1. Educate the campus community about behaviors of concern and reporting procedures.
    2. Provide guidance to faculty, staff, administration and students in assisting students who display concerning, disruptive, or disturbing behaviors.
    3. Serve as the “Centralized Collection” point of information that addresses a spectrum of risks from a position of care and concern.
    4. Identify patterns of behaviors from multiple sources that suggest a need for intervention.
    5. Review student referred incidents of actual or potential violence, as soon as reasonably possible: It is recognized that some referrals, by their very nature, will require immediate review and response while others may be dealt with during regular Team meetings.
    6. Early intervention to assist students with supportive services and referrals to outside agencies to help with needs and stressors that are impacting their behavior and success.
    7. Assess levels of threat and risk and determine the most appropriate response to ensure safety for the student, as well as, the campus community. The Team will use a fact based assessment process to determine if a threat or risk exists and to develop an appropriate plan of action. Action plans should take into consideration the potential for incidents of targeted violence to self and others and should be incident specific.
    8. Take appropriate action to implement the plan and mitigate the danger to the student and the campus community: The Team shall implement the agreed upon action plan and assure that all necessary follow up and documentation is conducted. Any action plan shall make available, and use as needed, a full range of support services including mental health, crisis management, as well as victim services.
    9. Conduct follow-up at determined intervals to ensure continued support of referred student.
    10. Assess long-term success for interventions.

  • Members

    1. Dean of Students Chair
    2. Campus Police
    3. Vice President of Student Development
    4. Representative of Faculty
    5. Members of Counseling Staff
    6. Disability Services
    7. Coordinator of Student Conduct
    8. Human Resources
    9. Environmental Health & Safety

     

    In addition, the Team may call upon others that can be helpful in sharing unique perspective of the student in crisis.  These Ad-Hoc members may be the Director of Student Activities, Coordinator of Veteran Affairs, or as designated by the Dean of Students.

  • Authority

    Within the parameters of existing state and federal statutes, the members of the Team shall have access to all pertinent records and information, held within each member's department, which would aid the Team in fully investigating, reviewing and determining a course of action to properly resolve incidents reported to the Team. Team files shall be maintained by the Dean of Students.

  • Understanding FERPA and BIT

    FERPA protects the privacy of students' education records. FERPA does not prohibit or in any way restrict a College employee from sharing what they personally observe. In other words, a College employee would not violate FERPA by advising BIT of what he or she saw or heard when directly interacting with a student, when observing a student interact with others, or when otherwise observing a student's behavior or demeanor.

    In addition, if a JJC faculty or staff member notices disturbing content in a student's writing or artwork, the faculty member should refer this to the BIT. Although the student's writing or art work would likely be an education record protected by FERPA, FERPA authorizes school officials (such as faculty) to disclose education records, without the student's consent, to other school officials who have a legitimate educational interest in those records. Since the BIT is responsible for identifying, responding to, and supporting at-risk JJC students while simultaneously attending to the needs of the JJC community, the members of the BIT would have a legitimate educational interest in examining the student's writing or artwork.

    Protecting student privacy is a high priority of the BIT. Records and proceedings of the BIT are kept confidential and shared only on a "need to know" basis in a manner that is consistent with College policy and the College's obligations under applicable laws, including FERPA.

    Employees of the college are directed to cooperate with investigations conducted by the Team.