2016 Investigative Reporting for Print/Online (Small Staff) Finalist: The Eye at New England Center for Investigative Reporting Staff

About the Entry

These stories lay bare major problems in the operations and oversight of a private special education school where 95 percent of students had been psychiatric hospital patients — effectively a mental institution outside the oversight of the state’s Department of Mental Health.

Comments from the Judges

“Series was excellent (though horrifying). The team was clearly committed to detailing the most egregious abuses — of students, and finances — by this school.”

“This is an impressive and decisive takedown of a school that is both abusing its students and its budget. What made it so compelling: the level of detail, and the marriage of financial investigation with stories from students and families.”