The ProPublica / Chicago Tribune investigation’s first installment found that students received over 11,800 tickets in the past three school years. Most tickets were for municipal ordinance violations like littering, truancy, vaping and fighting — and could carry fines as high as $750.

Freshman Kaitlyn Neville was only looking to defend herself when she received a ticket and a court date for a fight she did not start.

“I do not think the ticket was justified because the girl came onto me,” Neville said. She adds that growing tensions led to her reaching out to admin. “Then the fight happened. I had no choice but to defend myself.”

Neville explained that receiving the ticket was simple; Freshman Campus SRO Paul Prather had delivered it to her house. He also explained how Neville was to resolve the ticket — something she has not been able to do yet. 

“The ticket asked me to appear in court,” Neville said. “It didn’t state anything else on it. The dean gave me and the girl an opportunity to talk to one another and we did, but the [conversation] didn’t go anywhere; she wanted no part in resolving it. My court date isn’t for another month.”

As ProPublica and Chicago Tribune reporters found, students often receive disciplinary action through their schools in addition to the ticket. In this case, Neville received a three-day out-of-school suspension.

“I missed three days because [of the fight] and it definitely impacted my grades,” she said. “I was a student who struggled through Zoom learning so it was really hard to work on my assignments and stay motivated at home.”

Motivation is not the only thing that took a toll — Neville’s mental health did too. 

“I feel that [the ticket and OSS] declined my mental health because of the stress of dealing with all this by myself and simply the fact that I got in trouble for defending myself really upset me,” she said.

Based on her experiences, Neville believes ticketing is not an effective way to address student behavior.

“I personally feel [tickets are] a waste of time and money,” she said. “If [the ticket] gets wiped clean after we graduate, what was the point? Especially for the kids whose parents pay for it, it’s a waste of money for something that really wasn’t that big.”

Due to its ticketing practices, MCHS was mentioned several times in the first “The Price Kids Pay” article. MCHS Principal Dr. Jeff Prickett had defended ticketing as a way “to restore justice.”

“What I meant by tickets as a way to restore justice is that when a student receives a ticket, what usually happens [is that] it does not go on the permanent record,” Prickett said. “But, what it does is act as a way to introduce the student and family to a system that can eventually provide them with resources.”

Regarding the possession or use of controlled substances — a common offense at MCHS — Prickett adds, “A judge is usually going to say you have to do so many hours of community service and go through Rosecrance, who provides drug and alcohol counseling. That provides [students] with the resources they need in order to get better and restore what they’ve done.”

A concern in the ProPublica and Chicago Tribune investigation has been the financial burden a ticket’s fine could impose on families. Additional administrative and court hearing fees can reach up to $150 — or more if a student chooses to contest the ticket.

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While MCHS has two resource officers through its partnership with the McHenry Police Department, the individuals addressing most behavioral issues are the three deans of students.

“The McHenry Police has someone stationed here for the same reason you might have someone stationed at a mall or … anywhere where there’s a large population of people, like a concert,” Dean Hilary Agnello said. “It’s supposed to be a deterrent. If you were at a concert and [the police] saw underage drinking, the police would do the same exact thing they do in this building. It’s a public place. [Sam Shafer, Upper Campus’ SRO] just happens to be stationed here.”

When deans address behavior, issuing a ticket is not always the first option — or an option at all. Different behaviors and their severities receive an appropriate response.

“[Referring someone to the SRO] depends on what the student is doing,” Agnello said. “I include Officer Shafer into discussion when I know the action would violate the law outside these walls. I know that if a kid has drugs on them outside these walls, they’d be ticketed. Same thing [here]. In the same token, I don’t refer [a student] to Officer Shafer if they swear to a teacher because you can swear at anybody all you want outside.”

Despite the need to address behavior, deans recognize that a student might be struggling and that those struggles lead to misbehavior. Freshman Campus Dean Peter Byrne adds that parents have a level of responsibility for their child’s behavior.

“I believe everything starts in the home,” he said. “I think kids are jammed up with all kinds of problems: social, emotional, economic, sometimes even physical. It all starts in the home … Before kids are 18, parents are responsible for their behavior … If their kid drives down the street drunk and hits someone, that kid is going to be responsible, but the parents are also going to be liable for some of that stuff too.”

Byrne also recognizes that often a parent will pay the ticket’s fine and not the student; however, he adds that the ticket can provide access to resources and make a parent aware of their child’s behavior. 

“Drugs, vaping, fighting — they all go with a suspension,” he said. “After the suspension is over, we have something called a reentry meeting. At the meeting, several staff members, who all work with the kid, try to give them as much support as [they] can. One of the problems we [have] is that kids that are in poor home situations a lot of the time don’t have support. They don’t know that [therapy, talking to someone and other resources] can help them.”

Byrne adds that once parents are aware of behavior through the ticket, they should be helping their kids, and many do not. “If the kid can’t be held accountable and we can’t teach the parents to hold the kid accountable,” he said, “then what other thing is there? Worst case scenario, we want a parent at home saying ‘enough you made me spend $400 to correct your behavior’ and start getting more active in realizing that [the behavior] will continue.”

As deans with first-hand experience in disciplining students, Agnello and Byrne believe ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune’s “The Price Kids Pay” does not accurately represent what goes into issuing consequences for behavior.

“The thing I have with this situation is that I feel that the research that went into it had intentions of presenting an angle that almost puts schools in a dangerous place,” Agnello said. “If you are allowed to bring a weapon that is illegal or drugs in this building, and you don’t have legal consequences, we would turn this place into a very scary place [for parents] to bring their kids. I think we should guard these walls and protect the people way more … ”

Bringing weapons to school is not allowed and is illegal. Senate Bill 100 aims to meet school threats with the harshest forms of punishment. ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune’s investigation was only focused on minor misbehavior like vaping and fighting. 

Byrne adds that each behavioral infraction is complex, and ticketing or not ticketing is not so simple. 

“I think that we need to be careful about painting all this stuff into one nice neat package,” he said. “It’s not all nice and easy … every fight is not the same. There are fights we don’t give tickets for. It depends on the situation. I think this article is another example of the media spinning a narrative that is unfair, untrue and needs to be explored more.” 

“I guarantee you one thing,” he concludes, “[the reporters] are not a dean, are not an SRO, and have spent very little time in schools. They don’t even know what’s going on in schools. The kids in school today are not the kids that were in the classroom five years ago.”

Due to McHenry Police Department regulations, MCHS’s SROs could not comment on ticketing practices. Instead, Deputy Chief Thomas Welsh provided information on behalf of the police department.

Welsh clarified that SROs only issue tickets for violations of city ordinances such as disorderly conduct and vaping. While a city ordinance for truancy exists, SROs let school administrations handle the situation unless it is extreme. Additionally, he says officers do not issue tickets for violations of district rules, policies and procedures listed in the student handbook.

As the student walks out of court in Woodstock having paid a hefty fine, he is delighted to read the news that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is working to close loopholes in the law that resulted in his ticket and that state programs are putting a stop to ticket debt collection. He dreams of a future where behavior — especially drug and e-cigarette offenses — is met with the proper reaction: helping students through their issues.

As of now, student ticketing continues at MCHS as the police department and district continue to work under an unclear and vague law. Many do not agree with ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune’s portrayal of the issue but generally all parties involved want the same thing: to address student behavior in a way that is both meaningful and just.

Additional reporting for this story by Grace Hunt; additional photography by Maddie Canada