The investigation was initiated after the Tribune and ProPublica reported how the district turned to police to arrest students with stunning frequency.
The district, which also provides special education services to students in nearby school districts, was given 15 days to respond and was directed not to destroy any records.
No other school district — not just in Illinois, but in the entire country — had a higher student arrest rate than Four Rivers, according to the most recent federal data that has been made public. That school year, 2017-18, half of all Garrison students were arrested. The school has fewer than 65 students in most years.
Guidelines for detaining children are posted above temporary evidence lockers in a room where the Jacksonville Police Department brings students after their arrest. “Probably from the media attention,” Four Rivers Director Tracey Fair told district board members at a meeting in late February when she briefed them on the investigation. A recording of the meeting was provided to ProPublica and the Tribune by Jacksonville news radio station WLDS.
Records obtained by the news organizations, including 415 of the “police incident reports” that employees fill out every time they involve law enforcement, detailed instances when staff called police for a range of misbehavior, from disobedience to damaging a filing cabinet to shoving staff members. About half of the calls to police were for students who had run away from school, but those incidents rarely led to an arrest.
Investigators also asked for records detailing the reasons that students were transferred to Garrison. Students, some of whom have autism, ADHD or other disorders in addition to their other disabilities, are supposed to stay at Garrison only long enough to get the skills and education they need to succeed, then transfer back to their home schools.
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