Transforming School Safety: Celebrating the Career of Jadine Chou

The first thing Jadine Chou did after she became Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) Chief of Safety and Security was sit down with students and ask them what they needed to feel safe at school. The students’ answers were universal. 

“We heard the same thing over and over again, across the city,” says Jadine, reflecting on these conversations. “Students told us that they feel safest when they have positive relationships with the adults in their school buildings, and when they feel welcomed in their environment, especially by their security officers.”

Jadine and her team took these insights to heart, launching mandatory annual trainings for all security officers that shifted the focus “from enforcing to supporting” students.

This change is emblematic of Jadine’s 14-year tenure as CPS’ Chief of Safety and Security. Her work has been critical in changing the District’s culture and understanding of what school safety can and should look like. And she wasn’t expecting any of it.

“I never expected to be in this role,” Jadine says. “I’m the first Chief of Safety and Security who is not from the Chicago Police Department. I’m also the first Asian and first female Chief of Safety and Security in CPS. All of these things made me an unlikely candidate. All that said, this has been the most rewarding career experience of my life.”

Jadine’s career began in the private sector, working in leadership roles in large corporate organizations, but she soon found herself wondering if there was more she could do to make the world a better place. So she pivoted to public service, applying for an entry-level role with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). She worked her way up until she was overseeing the entire scope of operations, including safety and security, for more than 18,000 traditional public housing units across Chicago.

While at CHA, Jadine received training in restorative practices and observed firsthand the importance of strong relationships in creating safer communities. She brought this foundation to CPS, and immediately saw it echoed in what students were telling her they needed.

Under Jadine’s leadership, the District transitioned from a zero-tolerance policy to robust social-emotional supports and a restorative approach to student discipline. CPS’ current Whole School Safety policy encompasses not only physical safety, but also emotional safety and relational trust. As a result, there has been a drastic reduction in out-of-school suspensions over the last 10 years, which means that CPS students are spending more time where they belong—in school, learning and building relationships with their teachers and peers.

“The best way to keep our young people safe is by keeping them in school with us,” says Jadine. “There’s still work to do, but we’ve developed a culture where people agree that there’s no benefit in just sending kids to jail or shutting our doors on them. That doesn’t mean that we ignore consequences. It means that we apply consequences that are constructive and instructional, not punitive. If our kids aren’t in school, they’re not getting the support they need, and then they may be at risk of not being safe.”

Jadine has also championed programs that take a proactive approach to school safety, empowering students as active, engaged members of their communities. Take Choose to Change, an intervention program that provides participating students with wraparound mental health and mentoring services, and has been shown to reduce their likelihood of involvement with the legal system by 39 percent. Or Back to Our Future, an outreach program that helped more than 540 young people re-engage after the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jadine is particularly proud of the work her team has done to provide CPS students with summer jobs. In one program, students helped renovate auditoriums in more than 80 schools. In another, students connected with senior CHA residents through regular, virtual check-ins during the pandemic. Students even got to train therapy dogs in one jobs program!

And the part of Jadine’s work that she loves the most? The relationships she has built with CPS principals, teachers, parents, and students. Although she is leaving the District for the next chapter in her career, she looks forward to bringing these relationships with her and seeing CPS continue to grow.

“It’s not just me. I’m really proud of the work that my entire team has done in partnership with our school leaders and communities,” Jadine says. “And I believe that these shifts are embedded enough into our culture that we are not going to go backward. I’m excited to see the District continue on this trajectory, and I’ll be cheering CPS on from the sidelines.”