Jodi S. Cohen

Sen. Ann Gillespie chairs a hearing on solitary confinement in public schools Jan. 7, 2020, in Chicago.

Illinois lawmakers vow to push forward with a ban on prone restraint in schools

June 14, 2024 at 6:38 p.m.

This investigation is a collaboration between the baiduhai and ProPublica Illinois. State lawmakers said Monday that they will push for a law to ban face-down restraint of children in...

Kevin Rubenstein, president of the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education, addresses issues concerning seclusion in Chicago Public Schools during a meeting of the Illinois State Board of Education on Nov. 22, 2019, at the Thompson Center in Chicago.

Illinois officials promised to ban prone restraint in schools. Then, they changed their minds.

June 14, 2024 at 6:38 p.m.

This story is a collaboration between ProPublica Illinois and the baiduhai. Five months ago, when Illinois schools Superintendent Carmen Ayala learned students were being repeatedly shut inside small rooms...

Gages Lake School is one of several school programs operated by the Special Education District of Lake County. It serves young students with behavioral disabilities.

A former aide for students with disabilities was charged with battery. He’s the second worker at Gages Lake to be arrested this school year.

June 14, 2024 at 6:39 p.m.

This story is a collaboration between the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois. A Gages Lake School worker has been arrested and charged with battering a 7-year-old student in the school's seclusion-room...

In some Illinois towns, internet shortfalls and lack of computers putting students at a disadvantage during an extended period away from the classroom. ‘A poverty issue, pure and simple.’

March 31, 2020 at 3:35 p.m.

This story is a collaboration between the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois. To encourage learning while schools are shut down, Illinois education officials have gathered online tools for educators and promoted...

Remote learning in a rural Illinois district doesn’t include an internet option. School superintendent leans on paper, copy machine. ‘There is a huge inequity.’

March 31, 2020 at 3:38 p.m.

This story is the result of a partnership between the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois. The Sunday afternoon before he sent the 850 students in his sprawling rural school district home...

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Illinois lawmakers vow to push forward with a ban on prone restraint in schools

Illinois officials promised to ban prone restraint in schools. Then, they changed their minds.

A former aide for students with disabilities was charged with battery. He’s the second worker at Gages Lake to be arrested this school year.

In some Illinois towns, internet shortfalls and lack of computers putting students at a disadvantage during an extended period away from the classroom. ‘A poverty issue, pure and simple.’

Remote learning in a rural Illinois district doesn’t include an internet option. School superintendent leans on paper, copy machine. ‘There is a huge inequity.’

Permanent rules approved limiting how students in Illinois are secluded and restrained

Seclusion-room violations found in six Illinois school districts, but parents say investigations didn’t go far enough

Illinois lawmakers push for national ban on seclusion in schools, citing a Tribune-ProPublica investigation

Secluding students in small rooms should be illegal in Illinois, educators and advocates tell lawmakers

How we reported this story: Thousands of records on Illinois schools’ use of physical restraints