Pregnant Students Policy IMSA allegedly violated Title IX for over thirty years with a policy that required women and girls to sign special waivers. Students who became pregnant were threatened with constructive expulsion. IMSA board members voted for this policy over and over again, raising questions about their dedication to respecting the rights of children.

IMSA is the last public school in Illinois effectively turning away children who use a wheelchairIMSA admitted that while it was a recipient of federal funds, it provided no services pursuant to Section 504 or IDEA to any student. Highly selective schools typically report an enrollment of 3%-9% students with disabilities, not zero.

IMSA allegedly allows improper conduct by its directorIMSA Board policy requires that academically qualified children be educated regardless of the nature of their disability, and that accommodations include special education and related aids and services. IMSA's president refuses to provide most special education and related aids and services, as shown in the next exhibit. Allegedly, IMSA's board does nothing about many obvious instances of misconduct.

IMSA requires students to forfeit most aids and servicesIMSA does not provide any special education and related services, adequate supplementary aids, personal services, diagnostics, the services of a child psychologist, or transportation. As IMSA had been a recipient of federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education into the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, this was almost certainly systemic discrimination.

Admissions personnel may engage in discriminatory conductIMSA admissions personnel appear to engage in the practice of “counseling out” children with disabilities. Admissions must not discourage children with disabilities from applying or enrolling. It is unethical and can be unlawful.

Admissions personnel subjected disabled children to humiliating interviewsAdmissions personnel singled out students with disabilities for special interviews before making admissions decisions. Parents and their children say were humiliated by this conduct. No reputable public institution would subject parents and students to these harmful screenings or otherwise consider disability this way in admissions.

Parents share stories of mistreatmentParents allege that IMSA fails to have basic controls to ensure that children with disabilities can recieve an education without being subject to harm.

IMSA demonstrates “hostility” to programming for children with disabilitiesAn analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's contracted experts found that IMSA demonstrated some hostility to programming required for children with disabilities. IMSA did not adequately act to rectify this finding, as it still had no children officially receiving any services several years later.

IMSA allowed children to sit at home with no documented educationIMSA reserves the right to put children on medical leave. Children are not to be put on medical leave in public education—they must be provided adequate daily instruction and related services even if homebound or hospitalized. A request for records showed that there were 25 times in the last three years where an IMSA student was absent more than 10 consecutive days. IMSA had no records or logs to demonstrate that these children received an education. IMSA also may be engaging in systemic discrimination by penalizing children for excused absences related to health or disability.

IMSA admits to having no commuters For over thirty years, IMSA has allegedly used its residential program as a pretext for discrimination. U.S. Department of Education attorneys expressed concern that it would be discriminatory and pretextual to require children to sleep in a state bed as a condition of enrolling in a math and science diploma program. Sleeping in a state bed is not necessarily appropriate for some children with disabilities, many of whom may live within a modest commute. Additionally, failing to inform families of their rights may also be discriminatory. Update (12-2024): IMSA is allowing some students to check out after school regularly, but the option is not universally known to parents, students, and applicants, which is highly unethical if not unlawful.

While being subject to Section 504, IMSA had an IEP and 504 forfeiture scheme(Update: IMSA has ceased receiving federal research grants, federal education funds, and any federal nutrition assistance after complaints were filed against them.) IMSA required students to forfeit IEPs and 504 plans. This was likely systemic discrimination. IMSA also did not guarantee children a proper evaluation pursuant to Section 504, nor did it convene conventional IEP teams. Since about 1978, public schools have been required to provide evaluations, including medical and psychological diagnostics, at no cost to families. Failing to do so is typically adjudicated as systemic discrimination. Additionally, the State of Illinois is responsible for ensuring that children enrolled at IMSA receive an evaluation, when appropriate, meaning that it may have been failing to comply with federal program requirements.

IMSA students often drop out of school due to declining healthEvery year, a handful of IMSA students withdraw for “health” reasons. Why does IMSA's Board of Trustees lack curiosity as to what is happening to these children, especially given that IMSA's director allegedly revokes necessary accommodations, aids, and services.

IMSA's DEI director was sanctioned for unlawful conductIn recent years, three IMSA executives have been sanctioned for unlawful workplace conduct, including the DEI director, and more are likely under investigation. This is a concerning and unusual amount of unlawful workplace conduct in a public program for children.

IMSA's thirty-year-old admissions policies are unconstitutional and offensiveIMSA admissions are neither race nor gender blind and allow for prohibited race and sex balancing. The policy is: “The Academy shall ensure adequate geographic, gender, and ethnic representation in admission decisions by approximating the diversity of the applicant pool from among eligible applicants.” Disability status has also been considered inappropriately. Moreover, admissions involves a dated and inappropriate speculative calculus about applicant maturity and personal qualities. Considering the personal qualities of fourteen-year-olds in an application to a public program is offensive and ripe for abuse. IMSA is totally beyond the pale in its rogue, decades-old policies that explicitly allow for race, sex, and gender to be a factor; Chicago Public Schools has not considered race or gender in admissions since being released from its consent decree many years ago.

IMSA selects students for programs based on gender and racial “traits”State of Illinois employees selected students for the SRELO summer program unlawfully, openly choosing students based on prohibited factors, including race and gender. Open seats are available only after the prohibited selections occurred. Such priority and quota schemes have never been legal in districts that were not segregated. IMSA opened in 1986 as an integrated school.

IMSA's director is openly involved in racial profiling schemes IMSA administrators, as public employees of the State of Illinois, appear to engage in coordinated schemes to racially profile children under the color of law, possibly doing so as an illegitimate means to inflate minority performance metrics. Here we see an email showing that the director was involved in the SRELO priority-enrollment scheme. No other school in Illinois has such a system of priority schemes.

Confidential State of Illinois test data was used to recruit children on the basis of raceIMSA obtained confidential test score data under the guise of a “research study.” The so-called study involves sending motivating words and application information to all Black and Latino high scorers, but not all high scorers of races and ethnicities that the State of Illinois deems to be unworthy. Children who were not Black or Latino did not receive information encouraging them to apply to IMSA unless they met some other criteria. Needless to say, this is allegedly an unconstitutional government scheme to cook the application pool and deceive the public. Hundreds and probably thousands of children were affected by this conduct.

Was your child racially profiled in the summer SRELO program? Be sure to look through ALL INTERNAL SHEETS/TABS. This file was supplied by the FOIA office as is. We are not aware of any other public institution in Illinois [not subject to a desegregation plan] that would have gathered racial data to make selections for course assignments, summer programs, or really anything for that matter. If you would prefer a PDF copy, email us we'll put one up.

IMSA uses unconstitutional eligibility criteria in youth enrichment programsInstead of doing the hard work of identifying and recruiting a diverse group of children through legitimate means, IMSA simply appears to take a shortcut through discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Two children in the same household can differ in their eligibility for IMSA programming based on race alone. Advocacy groups challenged this program with the U.S. Department of Education. Unfortunately, IMSA ceased the receipt of all federal research grants, federal education funds, and any nutrition assistance, so it cannot be sanctioned through federal administrative proceedings. The State of Illinois, an aggrieved party, or the U.S. Department of Justice can pursue accountability for IMSA's alleged misconduct.

The State Board does not supervise IMSAThe Illinois State Board of Education has not been supervising IMSA to ensure that children are offered an appropriate education. The State Board of Education is responsible for ensuring that all students are offered an appropriate public education. Students and parents can decline to receive such an education, but it must be offered.

IMSA's principal may have treated children differently on the basis of raceOn page two of this report, IMSA's former principal appears to discuss treating “CLED” students differently in the delivery of an educational program. “CLED” is partly a racial classification.