If you are following along, this is the story @leevgaines.bsky.social and I were working on when we met Amy. (Amy and G are not in it.)

It focuses on how often students with disabilities are suspended.

www.wfyi.org/news/article...

This is Amy’s story. But it’s also the story of G, a 12-year-old girl who likes gym class, crafting and making slime.

A girl who is scared to be held in a seclusion room at her school.

I’m really glad we found a way to share G’s experience.

I spent the next several weeks talking with Amy as she went through a roller coaster ride, waiting for the U.S. Ed Dept to open an investigation in her local district.

Amy joined a lawsuit last week to force the federal government to act on complaints like hers.

We were reporting on another story at the time. G's experience in seclusion did not fit, and we weren’t sure how to share what she had told us.

Then, Amy told me cuts to the U.S. Education Department had stalled a federal complaint she filed over G’s seclusion at school.

Read the first in our series on the increase in suspensions. www.wfyi.org/news/article...

But state education leaders have not prioritized the spike in exclusionary discipline. WFYI dug through years of minutes from Indiana State Board of Education meetings, and we found that they have not discussed the post-pandemic rise.

At the same time, teachers are exhausted and many schools are short on crucial staff like special educators.

30K Indiana students were suspended for fighting last year. That's a 20% increase from before the pandemic.

They said that student behavior has gotten worse as kids struggle to manage conflict and handle hard moments. And data appears to back that up: The increase in suspensions was largely driven by a higher number of suspensions for *fighting.*

In a months-long investigation, @leevgaines.bsky.social and I spoke to more than 50 students, teachers, parents, advocates, attorneys and experts about *why* suspensions are up.