ProPublica has received more than 30 tips from sources interested in being matched with reporters around the country. Are there sources available in your city or state? If so, sign up below and we'll contact you with additional details on potential sources.
| Story excerpt | City | State | Source status |
|---|---|---|---|
| "One 7 year old bruised his inside elbows from trying to bite through his arms as the principal improperly used a basket hold over his mouth and nose." | Bentonville | Ark. | matched |
| Torrance | Calif. | available | |
| Sierra Madre | Calif. | matched | |
| "[School] in California is notorious for being physical though they claim they are not. My son suffered and I removed him from the district. The school I noticed were very good at protecting themselves." | Riverside | Calif. | matched |
| "At the age of 10, in a spec ed classroom, his teacher's choices for controlling his behavior included locking him in a closet and placing him in a plastic cylinder that would restrain his arms and legs, so he couldn't move." | Laguna Niguel | Calif. | matched |
| "My child has been placed in 25 minute floor restraints . The last incident 3 teachers held him down and bruised his back. The week before the same teacher gave a child a black eye. They always use the excuse that he was running from campus." | Redding | Calif. | matched |
| "My son was forcibly restrained, removed and isolated in a storage classroom repeatedly, and without notification. He was removed for hours at a time, and was not allowed to leave." | Sierra Madre | Calif. | matched |
| "Restraints went from 'last resort' to 'staff convenience,' we believe. It was ultimately what got us to refuse to send him back to school and what helped us secure a private placement." | Nederland | Colo. | available |
| "I am a parent that was sued because my child's doctor reported the school district for child abuse on my son to DCF (Dept of Child Family services)." | Ocala | Fla. | matched |
| Pekin | Ill. | available | |
| Lake Forest | Ill. | available | |
| Evansville | Ind. | available | |
| Rockport | Mass. | available | |
| pontiac | Mich. | available | |
| "My daughter hit herself so hard from the anxiety of multiple staff members shoving the hard helmet on her that she shattered the plastic." | Livonia | Mich. | available |
| "One day he came home with a behavioral sheet stating he had been handcuffed, legs had been restrained, & a spit guard had been put on his face. He was handcuffed a total of 5 times during meltdown. I was never told." | Starbuck | Minn. | matched |
| "My situation is different from much of what you are reporting...In this situation, he has had to be restrained numerous times, and we knew this would be the case. Here, though, the team has been fully trained to restrain safely and it is a last resort to a long series of other interventions." | Windsor | N.H. | available |
| Matawan | N.J. | matched | |
| "Teen on the spectrum was restrained when he didn't do what was asked of him." | Phelps | N.Y. | matched |
| Marietta | Ohio | matched | |
| "I had a special interest in working with kids who had autism. Teachers are becoming more and more frustrated with issues related to kids with special needs. Lack of resources is one of the biggest complaints." | Springfield | Ore. | matched |
| Kunkletown | Pa. | matched | |
| Lebanon | Pa. | matched | |
| "My autistic and gifted son was repeatedly triggered and escalated in aggressive behavior and then restrained, the last time 4 times before 1:00. We got our attorney involved and with 3 basic accommodations, his 'behaviors' vanished." | Merion | Pa. | matched |
| "In 2004 [my son] was transported to the ER by ambulance following an incident of an untrained shadow leaving cuts and bruises on [him]. We learned a month later that the school had filed a Police report claiming that [he] assaulted the shadow. The School refused to provide a copy of the report." | Lexington | S.C. | matched |
| "During 4th grade a teacher tried to restrain him but only grabbed him by 1 arm and ended up breaking my son's arm. The state education agency ruled that grabbing a student by one arm was not a restraint because the student was able to get free from the teacher even though he broke his arm while doing so." | San Antonio | Texas | matched |
| "Non-verbal child with autism was kept shut in a laundry room for hours at a time for several years almost daily. When he would yell, the staff would open the door and spray him in the face with a water bottle. He is now terrified of laundry room machines." | Prosper | Texas | matched |
| "I know my son has been restrained, they send me a letter home every time they had to do it. They are not overly forceful and do not put him in a closet or tie him up. they restrain him on the floor if possible because that is the safest way to get him to calm down. My son has Aspergers and has a tendency for meltdowns." | Windsor | Va. | matched |
| "My son was pinned down by his speech teacher and a police officer and both kneeled on his back two different times. When I tried to file a police report the sargent on duty would not send anyone out." | Virginia Beach | Va. | matched |
| "Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a teacher or another adult responding to a forty-nine pound child in crisis by laying on top of him. Never." | Seattle | Wash. | matched |
| Glendale | Wis. | available |