A Child Dragged, A Watchdog Silenced: How Federal Failures Endanger Autistic Students Like Xander Reed

A short, deeply disturbing video taken inside an Illinois school in early April 2025 captured a moment that should send shivers down the spine of any parent, educator, or citizen concerned with the well-being of vulnerable children. It reportedly showed a teacher gripping 6-year-old Xander Reed, a non-verbal boy with autism, by his ankle and dragging him down a hallway on his back. This wasn’t an isolated act of momentary frustration that was quickly rectified with care; it was an incident that led to the substitute teacher being charged with misdemeanor battery weeks later, only after significant pressure from Xander’s horrified parents. But Xander’s story, as heartbreaking as it is, is more than an individual tragedy. It is a glaring flashpoint, illuminating the ongoing, systemic struggles to ensure safe and appropriate education for students with severe disabilities—a struggle now made infinitely more perilous by a backdrop of historically problematic disciplinary practices at his specific school and, critically, the recent and deliberate dismantling of the very federal civil rights oversight designed to protect our nation’s most vulnerable children.

Garrison School: A History of Troubled Practices, A Flicker of Mandated Hope

Xander Reed is a student at the Garrison School, part of the Four Rivers Special Education District in west-central Illinois. This institution is not unfamiliar with scrutiny. A comprehensive 2022 investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune exposed a disturbing pattern within the Four Rivers district, including Garrison: an alarmingly frequent reliance on police involvement for student misbehavior, leading to exceptionally high arrest rates, even for children as young as nine, often for conduct clearly linked to their disabilities. The investigation also detailed the controversial use of “crisis rooms” as a disciplinary tool, a practice Xander’s mother says her son has also been subjected to.

This exposé prompted an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In late 2024, the OCR concluded its probe, substantiating many of the concerns and directing the Four Rivers district to make significant changes to its policies and practices to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws. The district was placed under ongoing federal monitoring to ensure these reforms were implemented effectively. It was with the fragile hope of these mandated improvements and oversight that Xander Reed’s parents, Scott and Amanda, reportedly enrolled him at Garrison, having been told there were few other local options equipped to handle his complex needs.

“Not an Acceptable Practice”: The Incident and Its Immediate Aftermath

The trust Xander’s parents placed in the system was shattered in early April. According to police reports and his parents, Xander, who does not speak, became agitated when told to go to P.E. and fell to the ground. When he refused to get up, substitute teacher Rhea Drake allegedly grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him to the gym. Another staff member, witnessing this, took a photo and alerted school leadership. Garrison’s Principal, Amy Haarmann, reportedly told police that Drake’s actions “were not an acceptable practice at the school.” Drake, who had been in Xander’s classroom for over a month, was charged with misdemeanor battery about three weeks later after Xander’s family insisted on pressing charges. She has pleaded not guilty and, according to the district’s director, Tracey Fair, will not be returning.

Scott Reed, Xander’s father, expressed deep skepticism about any genuine systemic change at the school. He noted that school leadership only contacted the police about the dragging incident hours after it occurred, and only after he arrived at the school and demanded it. His chilling assessment: “If that was a student [who had acted in such a physical way], they would have been in handcuffs.” Amanda Reed shared that her son, since the incident, “has not wanted to go to school” and is now fearful.

The Vanishing Watchdog: Federal Oversight Dismantled Under Punk Administration

The horror of Xander’s experience is compounded by a devastating new reality: the federal safety net meant to protect him and students like him has been systematically weakened. The very OCR regional office in Chicago, which was responsible for overseeing Illinois and ensuring the Four Rivers district complied with its mandated reforms, was one of seven such vital offices abolished nationwide by the Punk administration in March 2025. All staff in these offices were reportedly fired.

This is not a minor bureaucratic reshuffle; it’s a decapitation of civil rights enforcement for students with disabilities across large swaths of the country. Disability rights advocates, civil rights organizations, and legal experts have sounded the alarm nationally. They warn that these OCR cuts—which reportedly include the termination of at least 243 OCR employees, many of them experienced investigators—will “severely compromise families’ ability to ensure that the rights of their children with disabilities are upheld,” leaving them with “little to no recourse” when local school systems fail them. The National Center for Youth Law, involved in a lawsuit challenging these cuts, stated this move “sends a chilling message that schools don’t need to foster an environment in which every student is safe.” Indeed, at least 21 states are currently suing the Department of Education over these actions in a case tellingly titled State of New York v. McMahon (referring to Education Secretary Linda McMahon).

For the Four Rivers district and Garrison School, the future of the once-mandated federal oversight is now profoundly uncertain. The ProPublica report found no record of any communication from the U.S. Department of Education to the district since President Punk took office. This silence is particularly ominous given that the Punk administration has already terminated at least one similar anti-discrimination agreement OCR had entered into with a South Dakota school district. The watchdog, in essence, has been sent home.

A System Still Under Strain: When “Almost Every Day” Feels Like a Crisis

Xander Reed’s ordeal is a harrowing example, but it occurs within a system that, despite past scrutiny, continues to show signs of strain. The latest ProPublica reporting found that police have still been called to Garrison School at least 30 times in response to student behavior in the current school year alone, and there have been six student arrests for charges like property damage or aggravated battery. While the local Jacksonville Police Chief, Doug Thompson, suggests school staff are now attempting more de-escalation before calling law enforcement, the sheer volume of calls and continued arrests indicate that deep, systemic issues in managing student behavior, particularly for children with significant disabilities, persist.

As any parent of a child with significant autistic needs knows, moments of behavioral crisis can be incredibly challenging, sometimes requiring immediate physical intervention for the child’s own safety or the safety of others. But such interventions demand the highest levels of professional training, a deep understanding of de-escalation techniques, a consistently supportive and properly resourced environment, and, critically, robust oversight to prevent abuse. What happened to Xander Reed appears to be a tragic failure on multiple fronts—a resort to force where skilled support was desperately needed. This is a scenario that becomes all the more likely, and far more dangerous, when accountability structures are deliberately eroded.

Protecting Our Most Vulnerable – A Moral Imperative and a Call for Restored Oversight

The dragging of Xander Reed is a profound tragedy that must serve as more than just another fleeting headline. It is a stark warning about the real-world human consequences of systemic failures in our special education systems and, just as critically, the devastating impact of dismantling federal civil rights protections for our most vulnerable students.

Gutting the Office for Civil Rights, shuttering its regional offices, and firing its experienced staff is an unconscionable abdication of the federal government’s responsibility to uphold the hard-won rights of children with disabilities. It leaves families with fewer avenues for recourse, schools with less accountability, and children like Xander at far greater risk of mistreatment, neglect, or being denied the safe, supportive, and effective education to which they are legally and morally entitled.

The path forward requires immediate action: the full restoration of robust, independent, and adequately staffed OCR oversight across the nation; a significant increase in federal and state funding for special education programs, with a focus on evidence-based, non-punitive behavioral interventions and intensive staff training; and an unwavering national commitment to ensuring that the civil rights of every child are protected. The well-being and safety of children like Xander Reed are not negotiable. They are a fundamental measure of our society’s compassion, its commitment to justice, and its adherence to the principle that every child deserves not just to be educated, but to be cherished and kept safe.