In May 2023, sheriff’s deputies restrained a 10-year-old boy named Caleb Killingsworth and placed him in a patrol car on two separate occasions within the same week.

During the second incident, Caleb, who has autism and weighed under 90 pounds, was pinned down and handcuffed. As a result, he suffered scratches on his face.

Both events occurred after school staff at the Pine Tree Center, a specialized school in Lake Orion, Michigan, called for help when Caleb left the premises. This school caters to students classified as “emotionally impaired,” a designation that affects about 10,000 children in Michigan with behavioral challenges.

Michigan hosts over two dozen such programs that aim to support some of the state’s most at-risk students facing complex behavioral problems that may lead them to act out violently or attempt to flee. Critics argue that these schools are often inadequate, evidenced by incidents where students face restraint or seclusion during crises, as in Caleb’s situation where authorities were enlisted to handle the scenario.

“It’s incomprehensible to me,” expressed Christina Rivera-Killingsworth, Caleb’s mother. “If I feel this way, what kind of impact is it having on my son who can’t express how he feels? … What is he going through? How is this affecting him?”

A review conducted by the Detroit Free Press, which is part of the YSL News Network, indicated that incidents involving law enforcement occur more often in specialized schools with emotional impairment programs compared to traditional schools. Over a two-year period, records showed a higher frequency of calls and visits at these specialized locations.

Police reports highlighted distressing situations where students facing behavioral crises experienced severe repercussions including handcuffing, being shocked with stun guns, or being placed in police vehicles.

In Caleb’s case, school officials contacted the police because he was struggling and they expressed concern that he might dash into traffic. A spokesperson for the school district chose not to comment on the incidents.

Caleb’s mother believes the school should have taken action before he left campus, preventing the situation where officers were forced to intervene. She is deeply concerned about the lasting trauma this may have caused him, especially as the family had only relocated from Texas a year earlier due to military duties, and Caleb had been enrolled in Pine Tree for less than six months.

“These incidents and the overall trend suggest that the response is entirely inappropriate,” stated Heather Eckner, who leads statewide education for the Autism Alliance of Michigan. “When schools rely on law enforcement, it shows they are ill-equipped to handle crises, lacking essential skills and support to manage effectively.”

She noted that students with disabilities, particularly those with autism, often find themselves in repeated crises in these programs due to insufficient accountability and support from state authorities.

Disturbing Incidents in Schools

Among the alarming cases highlighted by the Free Press are:

• In a rural west Michigan school with an emotional impairment program, deputies were called when a 16-year-old student repeatedly struck his head against the wall of a seclusion room, leaving blood behind. After fighting with law enforcement and grabbing a stun gun from one of the officers, they used the weapon to subdue him and placed him in handcuffs.
• At a Ferndale school dedicated to students with emotional impairments, a police officer filled out a commitment form for a student who had reportedly gone off his medication and damaged a window in the main office.
• In Holland, sheriff’s deputies were summoned when a student yelled obscenities for several hours, ultimately leading to the student’s restraint upon the arrival of the officers.

The Free Press found that Pine Tree had an alarming rate of incidents, with law enforcement responding to 73 incidents per 30 students during 2021 and 2022. In contrast, just a few miles away at Lake Orion High School, police responded to about 11 incidents per 30 students.

The statistics from 2021 and 2022 reveal similar trends in various schools catering to students with emotional disturbances. On average, schools with programs for emotional impairments reported over five times more visits from law enforcement or emergency services compared to traditional schools nearby, logging 24 visits for every 30 students compared to just five for traditional schools.

Advocates highlight that these challenges reflect a significant mental health crisis among the youth in Michigan, emphasizing the urgent need for behavioral health support that doesn’t rely on repeated law enforcement involvement.

In response to the elevated visit rates, several administrators from districts with emotional impairment programs expressed concerns about directly comparing their situation with traditional schools, as they deal with a specific and often challenging student population. While a few administrators agreed to discuss this over the phone, most opted to reply to questions via email.

Karlie Parker, associate superintendent for special education in the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, mentioned in a phone interview that law enforcement visit logs do not always convey the nature of the interactions, which can sometimes be non-negative.

“Indeed, we encounter crises while supporting a complex group of children,” she stated. “We’re catering to the most challenging students in our county with intricate behavioral needs. I hope that when people review these statistics, they recognize that we’re talking about children, many of whom come from difficult backgrounds and circumstances.”

Ryan Jarvi, a representative for Northwest Education Services, which oversees the Creekside School, a specialized program for emotional impairments in Traverse City, clarified that the calls made to law enforcement are not intended to punish the students.

“Our students attend Creekside because they have a history of dysregulated behaviors, so it’s likely that the law enforcement calls are more frequent than in regular schools,” he noted.

The Labeling of ‘Emotionally Disturbed’ Children in America

Experts argue that labeling children as “emotionally impaired” or “emotionally disturbed,” as described by federal definitions, can carry significant stigma.

“Describing children as emotionally disturbed attaches a label that tends to be very stigmatizing,” stated Nicole Tuchinda, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans focusing on trauma and special education.

In Michigan, students categorized as emotionally impaired by public schools fall under the federal definition of “emotionally disturbed.” This definition includes students experiencing one or more of the following challenges:

• Learning difficulties not attributable to intellectual, sensory, or medical conditions.
• Difficulty forming or maintaining relationships with peers and teachers.
• Exhibiting inappropriate behaviors in typical situations.
• Persistent unhappiness or depression.
• Physical symptoms linked to issues at home or school.
• Experiencing schizophrenia.

It remains unclear when Michigan shifted from using “emotionally disturbed” to “emotionally impaired,” but some professionals believe that either term risks shaming children. States like Wisconsin have updated their terminology to “emotional behavioral disability” to address this issue.

The term emotional disturbance emerged in the 1930s alongside the development of residential treatment centers. However, the approach faced criticism in the 1970s, as insurers began to question its effectiveness, leading to calls for keeping children within their communities.

As a result, those identified as emotionally disturbed began to be served under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), placing more responsibility on schools and the juvenile justice system to handle a variety of behavioral disabilities, according to Deborah Doroshow, an associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who authored a book on the history of emotionally disturbed children.

However, critics assert that the fragmented systems of education, mental health, and behavioral health in the U.S. fail to provide adequate support for children dealing with trauma or other mental health challenges.

According to the latest federal data from the 2017-2018 school year, students classified as emotionally disturbed are less likely to graduate compared to peers with other disabilities. The data also indicates that emotionally disturbed students were twice as likely to drop out compared to the overall rate for students with disabilities, with 32% of them dropping out versus 16% for all students with disabilities.

For the 2022-23 academic year, the graduation rate for students with emotional impairments was reported to be just 53%.

This school year, students with emotional impairments graduated at a rate of 48%, significantly lower than the statewide average of 66% for students with disabilities, according to data from the Michigan Department of Education. Emotional impairment ranks as having the third-lowest graduation rate among the 12 disability categories statewide.

According to Eckner from the Autism Alliance, some students placed in emotional impairment programs should not be there. Her organization frequently encounters children diagnosed with autism who are receiving emotional impairment labels for school services, as opposed to autism labels.

Parents have expressed their concerns that behaviors typically linked to autism are penalized in emotional impairment programs, yet these programs do not tackle the root causes of such behaviors.

“Children with autism are often placed in inadequate settings, which are not suitable for their needs, leading to increased behavioral issues,” Eckner commented.

The exact number of emotional impairment programs operating in the state is uncertain. When a reporter inquired, the MDE did not provide a list, instead demanding $1,662.17 to cover record request fees for about 30 hours of information gathering.

The Free Press declined to pay such fees.

Instead, the Free Press discovered about two dozen programs, primarily run by intermediate school districts, which are county-level districts responsible for consolidating special education initiatives.

According to state regulations, emotional impairment programs must cap classroom sizes at a maximum of 10 students, and teachers should hold emotional impairment endorsements on their credentials, which necessitate specialized training within their degree programs.

Advocates like Trina Tocco, leader of the Michigan Education Justice Coalition, assert that many children require psychiatric assistance alongside the behavioral interventions available in schools. However, families face long wait times and complicated processes to obtain psychiatric help, which often includes medication prescriptions. Tocco is also a parent of a child with an emotional impairment classification.

Additionally, initiatives meant to support students with emotional challenges may overlook fundamental causes of behavioral problems, such as ongoing trauma from experiences like foster care, domestic violence, or parental substance abuse, noted Loyola’s Tuchinda.

Tuchinda remarked, “The education system fails to provide the needed support for these children and does not promote their success.”

Caleb flees the school

On May 23, 2023, Caleb became upset in class and left his classroom at Pine Tree to go to recess. According to witness reports in an Oakland County Sheriff’s Office document, a staff member instructed him to return, but Caleb refused, getting more upset and throwing a football at a school social worker.

As he walked away from the school, his aide noted he had his head down, eyes up, and “fists clenched.” Two staff members tried to follow him in a car, attempting not to alarm Caleb, as a social worker described in their report. Efforts by the aide and social workers to get Caleb to return to school were unsuccessful; he remained silent. A sheriff’s deputy arrived to speak with him, also blocking his way. This is when the deputy grabbed Caleb’s hoodie.

The deputy called for backup, stating “a juvenile is attempting to run towards traffic,” and another officer arrived. According to the second deputy, Caleb was kicking and scratching them, leading one officer to lift Caleb by his legs and carry him to the back seat of the patrol car, despite Caleb scratching and pinching the officer’s arm.

The deputies transported him back to Pine Tree, where his father came to pick him up.

Just two days later, Pine Tree staff made another emergency call about a runaway student. On this occasion, Caleb claimed another student had tackled him, while staff indicated that the other student merely bumped him, not tackled him. When a teacher declined to suspend the other student, Caleb became angry and jumped the fence once more.

In this instance, six staff members followed him as he walked briskly along the roadside during peak traffic hours, according to the deputy’s report. A deputy attempted to stop and talk to Caleb, but he refused. The deputy then gripped Caleb’s left arm, but Caleb screamed and resisted. The deputy reported that he applied the arm bar technique to bring Caleb to the ground. He asked Caleb to place his hands behind his back, but the child did not comply, leading the deputy to handcuff Caleb and escort him to the back of the patrol car.

Stephen Huber, spokesperson for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, stated in response to inquiries about the incident that handcuffs and the arm bar technique were necessary because “the juvenile was actively resisting and exhibiting violent behavior toward the deputy.”

“The deputy was concerned that the juvenile might escape,”

Huber noted that the office “takes mental health and autism awareness training very seriously and makes sure that all deputies are trained in these areas to recognize, comprehend, and respond to someone experiencing a mental health crisis.”

Rivera-Killingsworth has taken photos of the scrapes on her son’s face resulting from the incident. As reported by the police, officials were unable to determine if the injuries stemmed from “Caleb’s hostile/violent encounter with deputies” or from climbing over the fence.

For Rivera-Killingsworth and Caleb’s father, Anthony Killingsworth, understanding the police’s actions during the encounter is challenging. Both, being trained military and law enforcement personnel, recognize the necessity of preventing him from running into traffic but feel the deputies’ approach went too far.

“I recognize that you’re law enforcement and protocols must be adhered to. I understand that; however, we’re not discussing an adult, but a child,” she expressed.

To compound the stress, Rivera-Killingsworth mentioned that a complaint from Children’s Protective Services regarding an incident at the school plunged the family further into turmoil.

Following the first incident involving Caleb and the deputies, Rivera-Killingsworth sent an email expressing her concerns about Caleb’s interaction with law enforcement and the school’s treatment of him to officials at the Michigan Department of Education, leadership at Oakland Schools, and school board members. Just two days later, on the same day a deputy placed Caleb in handcuffs, she received a call from someone identifying themselves as a Children’s Protective Services worker, notifying her that a report had been made against her, she stated.

About a month later, she was cleared of any wrongdoing, according to a report. Nonetheless, the complaint was traumatizing for her and her entire family, restricting her from being in the same room with any of her children for 30 days except in the presence of another adult.

She has also lodged a complaint with the federal education department, which initiated an investigation in October into Lake Orion Schools regarding Caleb’s treatment at the institution. This inquiry is currently ongoing.

Mark Snyder, a spokesperson for Pine Tree, declined to provide an interview regarding school administrators and chose not to answer a list of questions submitted by a reporter.

For Caleb, the consequences of being handcuffed and detained by police and his experiences at Pine Tree have led to concerning behaviors that his parents hadn’t observed in years or had never previously witnessed. Rivera-Killingsworth mentioned that he began to self-harm once again. Additionally, he developed a new anxiety-related behavior of sniffing everything and ingesting non-food items, like paper. He also started making repetitive noises, resembling a tic.

Incidents of Assaults, Threats, and Runaways

The reasons for police involvement in specialized emotional impairment programs vary widely. Sometimes officers are called merely to maintain a presence and establish rapport with students. Other times, the situations are far more serious, such as alleged assaults on teachers or students engaging in self-harm.

At Edison School in Ferndale, part of Hazel Park Schools, police documented 230 encounters from 2021 to 2022 involving a school with 46 students during the 2021-22 academic year. (The Free Press did not include incidents recorded on holidays, those occurring between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and any that were animal-related or simply 911 hang-ups.)

The Ferndale Police Department noted 16 alleged assaults and at least 17 instances where students intentionally threatened to commit violence against individuals at Edison School during that same period. There were situations where students left the school premises, referred to as “eloping.” One case documented involved a student who reported being repeatedly punched in the head by another student, according to police records obtained through a public records request.

There were instances when students threatened to bring weapons to school with the intent to harm specific teachers or students. There were also violent encounters; for instance, in May 2022, a teacher attempted to prevent a student from leaving the premises, leading the student to push them aside, causing the teacher to fall backward into a glass door, which resulted in an injury requiring a hospital visit.

The superintendent of Hazel Park and the district’s spokesperson have yet to respond to inquiries made by the Free Press.

Administrators from other schools indicated that law enforcement has been called when students escaped from the campus, a prevalent issue in emotional impairment programs.

Teresa Belote, superintendent of the St. Joseph County Intermediate School District, which operated the Pathfinder Program for students with emotional impairments, stated in an email that she was “not surprised” by the higher number of recorded incidents in her district.

“During the time frame you mentioned, several students had experienced severe trauma and would attempt to leave the school if they became agitated or escalated,” she wrote. “We contacted the police if a student eloped because our program is situated on a busy road, and student safety was paramount.”

Occasionally, school officials at Pathfinder would reach out to the police as a precautionary measure to ensure safety, she noted.

At the Keeler Center in Redford Township, Superintendent Jasen Witt responded to inquiries about incident reports, indicating that local law enforcement sometimes needs to be involved when student behaviors escalate. He remarked that a significant number of students have run away from classrooms and the school building at Keeler, necessitating reliance on police in those situations.

The Valley Center School in Kalamazoo caters to students aged 8–18 with emotional or unique behavioral needs, as mentioned on its website. Law enforcement incidents have been logged at Valley Center,

At Valley Center, which hosts 31 students, the logging rate is particularly high, recording 244 logs for every 30 students. In comparison, Milwood Magnet School, situated 2.4 miles away and accommodating 688 students, only has a rate of six logs per 30 students.

A significant portion of the 252 records from Valley Center from 2021 and 2022, specifically 43%, fell under the category of community policing. This approach typically involves police officers making proactive visits to build rapport within the school. Principal Meghan Haas mentioned that the Kalamazoo Township police officers come not to intervene but to socialize.

“Occasionally, they join in for a game of basketball,” she explained. “Sometimes, they just check in with staff or take a short walk around the building.”

However, the mere presence of police can sometimes be distressing for students and parents at these specialized schools, as noted by a parent who reached out to the Autism Alliance through its Michigan Parent, Advocate & Attorney Coalition.

On a more serious note, Valley Center has documented nine assault incidents over two years, one categorized as a suicide attempt, and 34 incidents labeled as “trouble with subject,” which serves as a general descriptor. According to Haas, whether law enforcement is called depends greatly on individual student circumstances.

Some students at Valley Center have emergency protocols in place, which may entail contacting emergency services if they leave the school premises. In other cases, police are summoned “if the immediate risk is too high for our school interventions to ensure safety,” Haas stated.

There are times when a school official may contact the police purely as a precaution while they are addressing a student exhibiting challenging behavior. Angela Telfer, the executive director of special education for Kalamazoo RESA, which oversees Valley Center, explained, “Sometimes they come when we reach out, and they allow us to manage the situation while they are on standby if needed.”

The records do not specify how frequently students in various programs face criminal charges.

A review of police reports from Edison in Ferndale revealed that officers seldom seek charges from county prosecutors. Often, school personnel, notably Principal Michelle Krause, inform officers that they will manage the situation internally but request that incidents involving violence and threats be documented.

A school designed for healing

Evan Maritz was placed in Creekside School in Traverse City at the age of 13 in late 2021, an emotional impairment program operated by Northwest Education Center. His father, Matt Maritz, was assured by administrators that the program would assist Evan, who has been diagnosed with a behavioral disability and ADHD, which affect his interactions and participation with peers.

Evan is typically reserved and calm. He is tall and well-built, displaying a protective nature towards his family and pets. He once vigilantly spent an entire night on his back porch to safeguard his cherished pet ducks — French Fry, George, and Penguin — from potential danger after a bear was sighted nearby.

At Creekside, Evan quickly encountered challenges.

The teenager expressed feeling overwhelmed by the cramped hallways and the chaotic sounds of other students. He often found himself sent out into the hallway for off-topic conversations. There were instances where other students would instigate him, such as one occasion when a fellow student struck him hard on the back multiple times. Evan, feeling provoked, retaliated and pushed the other student to the ground. Matt Maritz, who viewed footage of this incident, noted that Evan faced punishment for his actions, while the other student did not face consequences for provoking him.

Evan felt that instead of addressing the root causes of his behavior, the school treated it like a place for students who were unwanted elsewhere.

“What was intended to be a healing environment ended up being just sitting in silence while doing work accompanied by soft piano music or nature sounds,” he reflected.

In some situations, Evan felt uneasy when staff physically restrained him while trying to remove him from class after he made inappropriate remarks or ignored instructions—behaviors linked to his disability.

His father, Matt Maritz, believed the staff should have used specific de-escalation techniques to manage Evan’s behavior, including allowing him to reach out to him or his mother. However, Evan was only rarely permitted to contact his parents during his time at Creekside, according to both Evan and Matt.

Evan remained at Creekside until March 2022, when an incident occurred while he was drawing. A teacher insisted he leave the classroom, but instead, Evan inquired about the teacher’s opinion on his drawing. The teacher insisted he put it away, and, after not responding, he felt increasingly uncomfortable as more staff gathered around him. In response, he pushed an educator’s head away and was then physically restrained, which left him in tears.

The experience led to Evan being placed in a seclusion room as recounted by Matt Maritz, which left him traumatized and unable to exit. Following this incident, Evan’s parents withdrew him from Creekside, and he has switched to a virtual schooling format since.

This entire experience fostered a deep-seated distrust towards both Creekside and the school district that had directed him there in the first place. For a period, Matt also struggled to trust his son, as he initially believed the adults at Creekside who painted Evan as a troublemaker. However, after requesting video evidence of these incidents, he recognized that the adults had failed Evan and misrepresented a middle school kid’s struggles.

What was meant to be a therapeutic experience turned disastrous for his son, lamented Matt Maritz.

“I understood that I had damaged the trust between myself and my son,” he stated. “It took almost a year for me to rebuild that trust. I’ve been working hard at it.”

Jarvi, a spokesperson for Northwest Education Services, regarding inquiries into the seclusion incident involving Evan, stated that he could not comment specifically on that.

While addressing a particular student, the district’s regulations and practices must align with state and federal laws, and all employees are required to follow state regulations.

The parents of Evan have also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, claiming that Northwest Education Services did not positively reinforce Evan’s behavioral changes, but instead issued reprimands, ignored ongoing bullying issues, and unjustly restrained and isolated him. An investigation by the federal agency commenced in October 2022 and is still ongoing.

Earning Points for Freedom

According to family members, strict rules and systems may not always suit students like Evan and Caleb, who have behavioral disabilities. They noted that emotional impairment programs often made their children feel marginalized and treated them harshly for behaviors they struggled to manage.

Data reveals that school districts with specialized programs frequently report high rates of restraint and seclusion of disabled students, practices that parents and advocates argue are damaging.

Although state data does not provide statistics for individual schools, administrators from Hazel Park Schools recently acknowledged that a majority of incidents were documented at Edison and expressed their commitment to reforming restraint and seclusion practices.

In her complaint to the federal Office for Civil Rights, Rivera-Killingsworth states that Caleb was isolated for hours at a time, occasionally for as long as three hours during the spring of 2023.

Evan expressed his desire for change, stating, “I just hope that they won’t be able to do that to other people.”

Parents and administrators informed the Free Press that numerous specialized emotional impairment programs employ level-based systems to manage behavioral issues.

These level systems vary by school but often have common features: students must earn points throughout the day, sometimes on an hourly basis, for appropriate behavior.

At Edison during the 2021-22 school year, students were required to complete a daily point sheet according to a handbook from that year. Points were awarded for positive behaviors, with the aim for students to progress through various levels, ultimately reaching level five to transition back to a regular school environment. The handbook describes the point sheets as “a concrete measurement tool for the student.”

However, some behavioral health specialists argue these systems may not be effective for those they intend to help. Ginger Healy, a clinical social worker and director of The Attachment and Trauma Network, who previously worked as a school therapist, noted that while incentivizing good behavior might initially seem beneficial in a classroom setting, it may ultimately do more harm.

She explained that level systems can create a hierarchy of behavioral expectations that may be unattainable for some children due to their disabilities or social-emotional skills.

“Many of these behavior programs can shame a child. Seeing your name on the board or in a level system is deeply painful. It leads to labeling and different treatment from peers,” she remarked.

At Pine Tree, strict regulations and a point system impeded Caleb’s ability to use coping strategies when he felt overwhelmed, according to Rivera-Killingsworth. He mentioned that access to a sensory room, which was promoted as a highlight of the school, needed to be “earned.”

“He absolutely requires sensory support,” she stated. “That room should be available at all times.”

In Kalamazoo, administrators at Valley Center noted they have transitioned away from a level system, choosing instead to focus on individualized approaches to help students meet their behavioral goals effectively.

‘Children Mimic Each Other’

Tocco, the director of the Michigan Education Justice Coalition, indicated that specialized emotional impairment programs illustrate the broader issues within Michigan’s special education system, where children fail to receive necessary interventions and must fight for essential accommodations, especially regarding mental health support.

For students classified as emotionally impaired, Tocco identified a significant lack of focus on the psychiatric assistance they require.

“In many of these programs, children simply mimic one another,” she explained. “This is a natural occurrence.”

Parker, associate superintendent of special education for the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, pointed out that staffing shortages and a crisis in mental health care, which are beyond schools’ control, contribute to heightened behaviors in emotional impairment programs.

“We are lacking sufficient social workers and special education teachers willing to work with students who have complex behavioral needs,” she stated. “Additionally, community agencies also face staffing shortages, resulting in the inadequate support that should be provided. Residential treatment facilities are overwhelmed, lacking enough beds for children. Therefore, when they stay with us and display severe behaviors, they often find themselves on a waitlist for a residential program.”

Advocates and specialists recommend that schools implement strategies to tackle student behavior before it escalates, employing crisis intervention methods.

Training aimed at building solid connections among students, educators, and special education aides is crucial. Experts in crisis prevention for students recommend identifying triggers that lead to emotional distress, such as difficulty grasping concepts while not wanting classmates to notice. For students with highly sensitive triggers, it takes little to tip them into a crisis.

However, effectively assisting students with mental health challenges also depends on having a stable team in specialized schools. Belote, the superintendent in rural St. Joseph County, is increasingly finding this challenging due to a statewide shortage of special education teachers. This shortage has led to the closure of her district’s secondary emotional impairment program.

Police reports obtained by the Free Press from different programs across the state illustrate the risks involved for staff working in these specialized settings, facing potentially unsafe interactions with children and teenagers.

“Filling the most challenging positions is becoming increasingly difficult,” Belote mentioned.

Transitioning Away from Police and Middle School Norms

Caleb has left Pine Tree behind.

His family relocated nearly an hour from Clarkston to Canton to escape schools in Oakland County, where they worried Caleb would be placed into specialized emotional impairment programs like Pine Tree.

The decision to move was tough. It disrupted the friendships of Caleb’s siblings, who had already formed connections at their prior schools. Additionally, there was a significant financial impact, as Rivera-Killingsworth explained. They were in the midst of organizing her 15-year-old daughter’s quinceanera and had planned a Texas trip. Shortly after moving, Rivera-Killingsworth had to leave for military training.

With the assistance of an external special education advocate, they enrolled Caleb in the Plymouth-Canton Community School District at Liberty Middle School, a regular district school. They reached an agreement with school officials that Caleb would not have a special education plan and would rely on school staff and family for support, with backing from Liberty’s principal.

Caleb’s initial year at Liberty had its challenges. When peers made racist remarks—given that he is Black—or approached him in ways that felt threatening, he would respond physically. However, in one situation where he hit a fellow student, he took the initiative to walk to the principal’s office to confess his actions.

He faced no punishment. The principal conveyed to Rivera-Killingsworth that he viewed Caleb’s reaction as a response rooted in trauma—an issue they could address together.

Caleb completed his first year at Liberty in June and returned in September.