WAND Investigates: State lawmakers work to protect students, bridge gap in communication

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND)- WAND Investigates continues our examination of abuse in schools across Illinois. WAND has explained how cases are investigated and what the Illinois State Board of Education is doing to crackdown on educators who harm students.

"If a parent, or a teacher, a community member- thinks that a teacher's actions are egregious enough to warrant removal from the classroom, potential licensure sanctions- there is a process for that," Jeff Aranowski, the Executive Director of Safe and Healthy Climate for ISBE, told WAND News.

But WAND News has learned, there is little communication from other investigating agencies, to ISBE, about staff accused of abuse or neglect. WAND Investigates whether existing laws are working and why new rules may be on the horizon.

The most recent major reform came in 2021, when House Bill 0219 overhauled rules for isolation time-out and physical restraint in schools.

"We began to talk about what we could do to address this," Representative Kam Buckner told WAND News.

The push for change came after repeated testimony and media coverage of students being locked in isolation rooms for hours and pinned face-down on the floor by staff.

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"This was not just something that was happening in the suburbs of Chicago, I heard about it from some folks that lived in other parts of the state as well," Rep. Buckner explained.

Since the new law went into effect, ISBE began working on extensive new policy and training for educators.

"Legislation was key in pushing the needle away from restraints being used as a normal event in a classroom," Aranowski explained.

ISBE has already seen a dramatic reduction in the number of time-outs and restraints used in public schools. The agency is requiring districts to continue to take action to reduce the total number of these time-outs and restraints each school year.

"We work with school districts to try to look at their reduction plans, provide technical assistance and otherwise provide those supports as they work to eliminate those behaviors that lead to those instances," Aranowski said.

Representative Buckner was one of the original sponsors of HB 219, that helped get these policies into place.

"It was a step in the right direction to first call out what was happening, and now to see what we can do to change that," Rep. Buckner said.

He said while there has been positive change, the state needs to be able to adapt to new challenges. WAND Investigates found ISBE often is not notified when law enforcement or the Department of Child and Family Services finds abuse or neglect has occurred in schools, because school districts are notified directly.

"Both ISBE and DCFS are huge huge agencies within the state government apparatus. So getting them to speak to each other, to speak the same language, and to be on the same page- its a heavy lift no matter what the circumstance is. But I think we can do it," Rep. Buckner added.

He asks parents to continue sharing their stories in the hope of spurring more change in Illinois schools.

"I would just let them know that we're not done yet. Once again HB 219 was not a panacea, it was not the silver bullet- it was a salvo, an initial salvo for us to begin having these conversations. To one, acknowledge what was going on- you can't fix something if you don't acknowledge it. And I think we did that in this bill, that is now law. And now we have more to do in this space," Rep. Buckner said.

Click here for more information about ISBE's educator misconduct policies and to file a compliant.