The Illinois school district with the country’s highest student arrest rate has agreed to amend its disciplinary procedures and offer support to students who missed class time due to punishments.
This agreement with the U.S. Department of Education concludes a federal civil rights investigation into the Four Rivers Special Education District, which followed a 2022 joint investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune. The investigation revealed that the district frequently involved police to discipline students with disabilities.
Under the terms of the agreement, students who were referred to police or sent to a “crisis room” multiple times in the past three academic years may receive services such as tutoring, counseling, or remedial education.
Four Rivers operates the Garrison School in west-central Illinois, serving students from an eight-county area with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities, with some also diagnosed with autism or ADHD.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced the agreement, stating that despite claims of being a “supportive” school, Garrison repeatedly referred students to police for noncriminal behaviors potentially linked to their disabilities — a violation of federal law.
During the 2021-22 school year, investigators found that police were called 96 times for issues like “noncompliance,” “disruption,” “inappropriate language,” and phone policy violations — more incidents than there were enrolled students. Additionally, some students spent significant time away from the classroom, including one student who was sent to a “crisis room” 143 times in one year, spending over four hours there in a single day.
The agreement stipulates that Garrison staff should no longer call police for behaviors that the specialized school is equipped to manage, according to Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon.
By December 20, Garrison must review the cases of students referred to police or the seclusion room over the past three years to determine if they require additional services to compensate for missed class time and harm suffered. These services must be provided within six months of the review.
Four Rivers Director Tracey Fair did not comment on the agreement or address ProPublica’s inquiries about future plans to assist students. She previously stated that police are called only for physical aggression or persistent misbehavior. Fair signed the civil rights agreement on Tuesday.
The agreement also mandates the district to create new policies for using crisis rooms and submit them to the Education Department within 30 days. The district is required to document all instances of student-police referrals and train staff on when the use of law enforcement or crisis rooms might violate federal laws.
The ProPublica-Tribune investigation revealed that school administrators contacted police for student misbehavior nearly every other day and frequently pressed charges, even against students as young as nine.
Typically, officers would handcuff students, take them to the Jacksonville police station for booking, and a brief description of the arrest would be published in the local newspaper.
In the 2017-18 school year, half of Garrison’s students were arrested, resulting in the highest student arrest rate of any school district in the nation at that time, according to federal data.
Olga Pribyl, who leads the special education law division of Equip for Equality, described the agreement as “a wake-up call” for the school to focus on training staff to help students avoid crises. She emphasized that all students referred to police or placed in seclusion rooms should be offered counseling due to the trauma caused by such restrictive practices.
A mother, Lena, has decided not to seek help from Garrison for her two sons who would be eligible under the new agreement. She expressed concern about returning her children to a place where they experienced harm.
“For people who will attend in the future, this is beneficial,” Lena said. “But for those whose lives have been dramatically changed, it doesn’t offer much solace.”