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Jennifer Smith Richards

I pursue stories about abuses of power — often focusing on schools and education — and stories about private businesses throughout the Midwest.

Need to Get in Touch?

Tips about government and business, particularly in the Midwest, are welcome. I’m also eager to hear from educators and government officials. I want to connect with parents and students experiencing the administration’s policy changes.

What I Cover

My stories focus on abuses by powerful government institutions. Right now, I am reporting on how the Trump administration is reshaping the federal government’s role in schools and education — and what that means for young people. I’m especially interested in shifts in the way students’ civil rights are monitored and enforced at school.

My Background

I began my journalism career writing obituaries in West Virginia, then covering small-town southern Ohio. I’ve written about schools and education at newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia; Utica, New York; Savannah, Georgia; and Columbus, Ohio. Most recently, I worked for the Chicago Tribune, where my work exposed the practice of police issuing tickets to students at school, abusive educators, government misspending, sexual abuse in schools, lapses in police accountability and the mistreatment of students with disabilities. My stories have prompted new state laws, the prosecution of school officials and the creation of child-protection units in school districts and state education departments.

I’m a graduate of Ohio University and I live in Chicago.

Inside Shrub Oak

This School for Autistic Youth Can Cost $573,200 a Year. It Operates With Little Oversight, and Students Have Suffered.

No state agency has authority over Shrub Oak, one of the country's most expensive therapeutic boarding schools. As a result, parents and staff have nowhere to report bruised students and medication mix-ups.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

This Cop Got Out of 44 Tickets by Saying Over and Over That His Girlfriend Stole His Car

Chicago police officer Jeffrey Kriv used the same alibi to contest dozens of traffic tickets over the years. A deeper look at his career sheds light on Chicago’s troubled history of police accountability.

by Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica, and Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune,

The Price Kids Pay

Schools and Police Punish Students With Costly Tickets for Minor Misbehavior

Illinois law bans schools from fining students. So local police are doing it for them, issuing thousands of tickets a year for truancy, vaping, fights and other misconduct. Children are then thrown into a legal system designed for adults.

by Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica, and Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune, photography by Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune, illustrations by Laila Milevski, ProPublica,

The Quiet Rooms

The Quiet Rooms

Children are being locked away, alone and terrified, in schools across Illinois. Often, it’s against the law.

by Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune, and Jodi S. Cohen and Lakeidra Chavis, ProPublica Illinois,

The Price Kids Pay

Illinois Lawmakers Ban Police From Ticketing and Fining Students for Minor Infractions in School

The legislation comes after a ProPublica-Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that even though state law bans schools from fining students directly, districts skirt the law by calling on police to issue citations for violating local ordinances.

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

A Teacher Dragged a 6-Year-Old With Autism by His Ankle. Federal Civil Rights Officials Might Not Do Anything.

The Garrison School is part of a special education district that had students arrested at the highest rate in the country. It had pledged to change how it disciplines kids after a ProPublica-Chicago Tribune investigation and subsequent federal probe.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights Cases

Have you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, parents, school employees and their communities.

by Asia Fields, Ashley Clarke, Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

A Gutted Education Department’s New Agenda: Roll Back Civil Rights Cases, Target Transgender Students

The Trump administration is subverting the traditional priorities of the department’s decimated civil rights office by making discrimination investigations practically impossible — instead enforcing its own anti-diversity campaign.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

A Closer Look

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More

By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose consequences could ripple out for decades.

by Alec MacGillis,

Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department’s Civil Rights Division

The lawsuit claims that decimating the agency’s Office for Civil Rights will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school — violating the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

Massive Layoffs at the Department of Education Erode Its Civil Rights Division

Only five of the agency’s civil rights offices remain nationwide. Those who are still with the department say it will now be “virtually impossible” to resolve discrimination complaints.

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

Two Transgender Girls, Six Federal Agencies. How Trump Is Trying to Pressure Maine Into Obedience.

Maine said it wouldn’t break state law to follow President Donald Trump’s order barring transgender girls from playing girls’ sports. Then came a barrage of investigations and threats targeting the state’s federal funding.

by Callie Ferguson and Erin Rhoda, Bangor Daily News, and Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica,

Education Department “Lifting the Pause” on Some Civil Rights Probes, but Not for Race or Gender Cases

A memo to the department’s Office for Civil Rights reveals that the agency will allow “only disability-based discrimination” cases to proceed. Thousands of outstanding complaints will continue to sit idle.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump

Since Inauguration Day, the Office for Civil Rights has only opened about 20 investigations focused on Trump’s priorities, placing more than 10,000 student complaints related to disability access and sexual and racial harassment on hold.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,