DECATUR, Ill. (WAND)- When parents drop their kids off at school each day, they expect them to be safe. But over the past year, central Illinois parents have been calling and emailing WAND News about cases where they believe their child was hurt at school.
"No one is protecting our children in that school house," Otiyuna Franklin, a central Illinois mom, told WAND News.
WAND News investigated these cases to learn what is happening inside school buildings, who investigates and how agencies are working to prevent this from happening in the first place.
"They've turned my autistic child into a monster to excuse the abuse that they threw at him," Clarissa Brooks, another central Illinois mom, told WAND News.
Brooks said her six-year-old son was assaulted by a teacher in the fall.
"Dominic was standing in the hallway at Garfield Alternative, when his TA took two or three steps striding towards him to snatch a sensory toy out of his hand," Brooks explained.
School records show the incident happened in September of 2023.
"See the school had called and said 'Dominic is having a meltdown, can you come de-escalate?'" Brooks told WAND News.
She said his principal told her, he was accidentally dropped by a staff member.
"I guess I didn't connect the dots, because I was like- well it sounds like an accident, no big deal. Then DCFS shows up and paints a completely different picture for me," Brooks said.
Weeks later, she saw surveillance video of the incident.
"[I felt] Blind rage. Because how someone can have kind of animosity and contempt for a developmentally disabled child is mind boggling when they are filling a caregiver role- its terrifying," Brooks explained.
Schools record show, teachers and staff- who witnessed the incident- told their principal this teaching assistant ripped a ball out of the child's hand before picking him up and forcefully throwing him back on the ground.
"He grabbed him around his shoulder and threw him out of the classroom, threw his jacket and stuff outside the classroom," Franklin told WAND News of the incident involving her son.
She said her 11-year-old's long term substitute teacher, at another Decatur school, is accused of violently throwing him out of his class in October of 2023.
"My anxiety is always on high. I feel like at any point in time I'm going to have to run from work to go and get him, or go save him," Franklin said.
She explained, her son first started coming home, telling her about what he believed were inappropriate comments from his sub. Then he said things escalated.
"So he sat around this same person, who abused him, who mentally messed with him, that targeted and taunted him from October to February," Franklin explained.
In the case of both Franklin and Brooks' sons, school officials called DCFS to investigate.
"In any event, we do make contact with children within 24 hours- or make a good faith attempt to see a child in 24 hours," Shannon Huston, Associate Deputy Director for Child Protection for DCFS.
Illinois state law requires anyone working at a school to report abuse or neglect to DCFS. An investigator will meet a child at school, or home, and interview witnesses along with the accused adult.
"So its either indicated, which means that there's credible evidence to substantiate the allegation of abuse or neglect. Or its unfounded, which means there is not, there's a lack of evidence," Huston added.
DCFS will send parents a letter informing them of the results of their investigation. But even in cases where DCFS finds a staff member did abuse or neglect a child- that doesn't mean they will necessarily face any discipline or lose their job.
"Anything that has to do with whether or not someone maintains employment in a school is under the purview of the school and the school district itself. We make notification and then they take that information and make the decision that they make at that level," Huston explained.
This was the cases for Deserae Allen's daughter. The Shelbyville mother showed WAND News surveillance video and school records from an alleged assault of her 9-year-old daughter in August of 2023.
Records state, her daughter's teacher pulled her out of the bathroom and dragged her down the hallway, leaving her with bruises. The teacher was suspended for several days, as were the educators in the cases of Brooks and Franklin's sons. In all three cases, DCFS found the adult did abuse the child.
"I made the decision myself, that since no one will respond back and remove my son away to a safe spot- I'll keep him home. That's as safe as its going to be, I'll keep him home," Franklin explained.
Her son's long term substitute was eventually moved to a different classroom.
"If you really care, why do you continue to protect the people that are abusing our children?" Franklin asked.
Allen filed an order of protection, which forced the district to temporarily move the teacher to another classroom. But for Franklin and Allen- the story ends there.
In the case of Brooks' son, the aide was investigated by Decatur Public Schools, and allowed to resign before his termination.
Then weeks later, the Macon County State's Attorney charged him with felony aggravated battery. The case is set for a bench trial June 4th, 2024.
Decatur and Shelbyville Public Schools declined to comment on the story. The teacher in the Shelbyville case appealed DCFS's ruling. The Illinois Education Association told WAND News, she won her appeal.
But these cases aren't isolated to these districts, they're happening across central Illinois. DCFS records show, for the 2022-2023 school year, there were 12 indicated reports of abuse or neglect for the Springfield, Decatur and Champaign school districts combined. Though records show some cases involved abuse or neglect that occurred at home- not on school grounds.
Most of these families won't see cases go to court, but parents have another avenue to seek accountability. The Illinois State Board of Education said there is no place for abuse in Illinois schools. ISBE officials said the agency will take action if it learns abuse is happening.
"Sometimes complaint investigations lead to findings against a school system, where we order corrective actions, which could be as an example- additional training, additional monitoring, data collection, regular meetings with state board of education staff and so forth," Jeff Aranowski, the Executive Director of Safe and Healthy Climate for ISBE, told WAND News.
ISBE officials said there is already an educator misconduct program, which allows the agency to take action- up to removing a teacher's license, if the case is extreme enough.
Aranowski said there is also a new mediation process for families who feel their school district is not protecting their child.
"So short of a complaint investigation, or in lieu of a complaint investigation- we're seeking to offer a mediation process whereby a parent, the school district can come together to discuss options to support that student- and making sure the student feels safe, and that the actions by the school district are appropriate for the environment as well," Aranowski told WAND News.
ISBE also trains teachers on appropriate restraints, to keep children- and themselves- safe. WAND News will take a closer look at this training, and the reporting process, on June 4th at 10pm.
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