Jodi S. Cohen

Jodi S. Cohen is a reporter for ProPublica, where she focuses on stories about schools and juvenile justice.

Carmen Ayala, superintendente de Educación de Illinois.

La principal funcionaria de educación de Illinois pide a las escuelas dejar de trabajar con la policía para multar por mala conducta a los estudiantes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

La principal funcionaria de educación de Illinois instó a las escuelas a dejar de trabajar con la policía para multar por mala conducta a los estudiantes, horas después de que...

State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala

Illinois’ top education official asks schools to stop working with police to ticket students for misbehavior

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

Illinois' top education official urged schools to stop working with police to ticket students for misbehavior, hours after an investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica revealed that schools across the...

A ticket book sits on the desk of the school resource officer at Bradley-Bourbonnais.

How we reported on student ticketing in Illinois schools

July 31, 2024 at 2:18 p.m.

Neither the state of Illinois nor the federal government tracks how often police give tickets to students in public schools for violations of municipal ordinances. To understand how frequently and...

Blake, 17, and his mother Jennifer Fee, left, talk to prosecutor Pat McGrath at the Tazewell County Courthouse in March 2022. Blake received a ticket for having a tobacco vaping device at school.

The Price Kids Pay: Schools and police punish students with costly tickets for minor misbehavior

February 4, 2025 at 9:47 a.m.

The courthouse lobby echoed like a crowded school cafeteria. Teenagers in sweatshirts and sneakers gossiped and scrolled on their phones as they clutched the yellow tickets that police had issued...

The isolated timeout space at the Southwest Cook County Cooperative Association For Special Education in Oak Forest on Oct. 11, 2019.

Illinois legislators vote to dramatically limit use of seclusion and facedown restraints in schools

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

Illinois lawmakers took sweeping action Sunday to limit the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, following through on promises made after a 2019 Tribune-ProPublica investigation revealed that school workers...

Illinois schools secluded and restrained children thousands of times this year despite pandemic closures

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

Illinois school workers physically restrained or secluded nearly 2,400 students more than 15,000 times this school year, a period when many schools were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, new...

Bill sponsor state Sen. Ann Gillespie applauds during a session Jan. 13, 2021, at the Capitol in Springfield.

Time runs out for ban on locked seclusion and face-down restraints in Illinois schools; advocates vow to try again

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

This story is a collaboration between the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica. Illinois lawmakers had the support to ban schools from locking students alone in a room or physically restraining them...

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, right, leaves the Capitol on Oct. 21, 2020, in Washington. He's the the Senate sponsor of the seclusion ban legislation.

Secluding schoolchildren in isolated spaces would be illegal under a new federal bill, introduced one year after Tribune/ProPublica Illinois investigation

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Congressional Democrats introduced legislation Thursday that would make it illegal to put students in seclusion and would limit the use of physical restraint in schools that receive federal funds. The...

The isolated timeout space at the Southwest Cook County Cooperative Association for Special Education in Oak Forest is shown on Oct. 11, 2019.

More than 10,000 times in a single year, Illinois schools put children into seclusion, latest federal data shows

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Illinois schools reported putting students into seclusion at least 10,776 times in the 2017-18 school year — up more than 50% from the last time districts sent seclusion data to...

Body bags, hotel rooms — and grenades? How Illinois has spent over $1.6 billion in response to COVID-19.

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Fighting — and adapting to — the coronavirus pandemic in Illinois has been costly. As of Oct. 1, state agencies reported spending more than $1.6 billion in federal and state...

All Stories