The Illinois attorney general has completed its investigation on District 211 and determined that it violated state law by requesting police officers to issue tickets to students for misbehavior on school grounds, as first reported by the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica.
Between 2019 and 2021, Cutlass reported that District 211 issued 568 disciplinary tickets, with 7.58% of Palatine High School students receiving one during that time. After reviewing the district’s practices, the attorney general’s office found that directing police to fine students for school-related incidents was illegal and disproportionately affected Black and Latino students in what was described as an “unjustified disparate impact.”
A 2022 investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune revealed that students in District 211 were fined up to $750 for minor infractions, such as possessing vape pens, skipping class, or engaging in verbal or physical disputes.
Investigators found that Palatine police issued tickets to students for missing a single day of school or less, even though Public Act 105 ILCS prohibits “punitive action” being taken against truant minors unless they have “accrued 15 consecutive days of absences without valid cause.” The fine, which was set to $200, also violated state law, as the maximum permitted amount is $100, investigators found.
In 2023, Palatine High School Principal Tony Medina acknowledged that the findings of the investigation prompted the administration to “re-examine” how it responded to certain behaviors.
In a July 2023 letter to the district, Attorney General Kwame Raoul noted that since the investigation, the district had “drastically reduced” its use of ticketing.
Over the past two years, the attorney general’s office had been investigating the district on civil rights violations regarding ticketing students. In response to these violations, the attorney general told the district to make it clear in school handbooks and to local police that school administrators are not allowed to ask the police to issue tickets as a form of discipline, especially for disorderly conduct or having tobacco or vaping products.
“We strongly encourage other districts and police departments to review their policies and practices,” the office told ProPublica.
