The Delta Brain Development Institute was housed in a white colonial-era house set back from a country road. The place was so special that at first I drove right by it, not thinking it was a school. I turned around, went to the door, introduced myself as a reporter, and asked for a tour.
I knew a year ago that a student had been assaulted at this school in Arkansas thanks to some news reports based on detective testimony. Once inside, I noticed preteens tucked into hammock chairs or sitting on the floor. I focused on the cameras in the hallway and classroom, reminding me that I needed to see the video of the assault to fully understand what had happened.
However, because this happened at Delta Institute, which is a private school, I did not have access to the types of public records that would have existed at a public school, such as incident reports, emails, and videos. The only reason we knew something terrible had happened here was because law enforcement intervened. I had to continue reporting for weeks until the criminal case was over. Then you can start pursuing video evidence.
I was in the northeastern Arkansas suburb of Jonesboro to report on private schools that are opening as state legislatures increasingly set aside public funds for parents to use for private education. Our report shows that increased public funding does not necessarily lead to increased transparency. In most states investigated by ProPublica, private schools operate with little oversight. Unlike public schools, where everything from test scores to school lunches to teacher qualifications is regulated, much of what happens in private schools is not subject to public scrutiny.
In Arkansas, the focus of a recent talk with Jody S. Cohen, there are no rules about who can open a private school, and they can operate almost anywhere. The state only requires private schools to conduct regular fire drills, keep immunization records and display American flags and flagpoles. It does not examine the school’s curriculum or the background or abilities of its administrators.
There is no record of the Arkansas Department of Education investigating Delta Institute or visiting the school after police arrested the founder. Asked whether the department had visited the school, officials declined to say, but said that once the department is aware of a problem, “on-site inspections are often conducted.”
Eventually, we were able to obtain video evidence recorded inside the school. With the assistance of Arkansas Times reporter Milo Strain, I filed a Freedom of Information Act video request with the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office and the prosecutor who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state.
This time I would like to share some of that footage with you. This is primarily sourced from my public records request and one video shared by a parent who consented to its release. This video is difficult to watch, but it is important because it shows not only the abuse of students at certain private schools, but also the lack of systemic oversight in which private schools operate with little regulation or oversight.
Private school owner Mary “Tracy” Morrison orders students to scrub floors
Last year, the owner of an Arkansas private school sent a video to the student’s mother explaining why a 10-year-old boy with autism was being kept in after-school care. Obtained and compiled by ProPublica. The names and faces of two of the children have been redacted to protect their identities.
Early in my report on Delta Institute, a parent showed me a video of her son’s experience at the school. It was photographed by the school’s owner, Mary “Tracy” Morrison. She texted the video to Renee Johns, whose 10-year-old son with autism was a student, after school that day to explain why her son was locked up.
The video shows three boys scrubbing the floor and walls of a room at the school with rags as Prime Minister Scott Morrison shouts orders and admonitions. When she calls out to them, you can see the boys react in surprise. It is clear that they are being punished.
Mr. Morrison was an occupational therapist but had never run a school before. But she sold herself to parents as an expert on autism and neurobifurcation.
Johns filed a report with the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office about the floor polishing video. She considered it child abuse. Approximately three weeks later, in April 2025, a second parent visited the sheriff’s office to report another incident at the Delta Institute. The incident was also captured on video.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison encourages students to assault classmates
Mary “Tracy” Morrison, an occupational therapist who founded a private school in Arkansas in 2024, conducted a “group discussion” in which she encouraged other students to assault a 13-year-old boy. As a result of the incident, Mr. Morrison was criminally charged and sentenced to prison. Video excerpt from the Delta Institute for Brain Development obtained by ProPublica. The face is blurred in the original video.
Detectives visited the school in April 2025 with a warrant and recovered approximately 40 minutes of video clips recorded by classroom cameras. I obtained this through a Freedom of Information Act request. This is actually the only unfiltered view we have of the methods Mr. Morrison used at school.
The video shows Prime Minister Scott Morrison instructing the boy to sit in the middle of a circle of 12- and 13-year-old students sitting on the floor. Prime Minister Scott Morrison then instructed the students to place their hands on the boy in the center in any way they wished.
One boy wrapped his arms around the student’s neck and suffocated him. Mr. Morrison then gave the boy a high-five.
Other students join in by hitting, punching, and pinching the boy. Prime Minister Scott Morrison encouraged one student, who then punched him so hard that another student could be heard saying: “That must have hurt!”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also hits students
Mary “Tracy” Morrison instructs students to beat up their peers while she watches. She hit the same 13-year-old student with a plastic cylinder and then beat him up. Video excerpt from the Delta Institute for Brain Development obtained by ProPublica. The face is blurred in the original video.
Minutes later, Mr Morrison struck the boy in the middle with a 100cm plastic cylinder. She is trying to get him to admit to being unkind to other students.
Mr. Morrison was charged with 11 felonies for permitting child abuse and other related crimes. She took a deal in which she would plead guilty to one count of condoning child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. This agreement allowed her to avoid a trial. That means the video was never played in open court. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
I’ve been writing about schools for the better part of 25 years, much of it extensively about discipline and school responses to student behavior.
But what I saw in the video looked nothing like anything I had seen before. I have never seen a school administrator, even the school owner, yell at a child for being a liar or encourage other students to intervene.
Mr. Morrison declined to speak to the detectives or prosecutors who investigated the case. She did not respond to our requests for an interview or comment. Our only real insight into her perspective came from other videos we obtained. These are records of phone calls she made while she was in prison with her family, friends, and school officials.
From prison, Mr Morrison tells a different story.
In a video call from prison with documentary filmmaker Alicia Sofios, Prime Minister Scott Morrison explained the goal of holding “restorative” group discussions with students. Retrieved from ProPublica
We obtained recordings of more than 500 phone and video calls Mr Morrison made or received while he was jailed in May. We caught up with her account of what happened in a phone call with the filmmaker, who spoke about making a true crime documentary and telling Mr. Morrison’s story.
Mr Morrison describes the school as teaching a “sophisticated” intervention method that involves guiding students at risk of becoming offenders in “restorative” group discussions. “It was never like, ‘Let’s punch him,’ you know?” she told the filmmakers, referring to the 13-year-old boy she had seated in the center of the circle.
Mr. Morrison was released from prison on June 1. The school’s new administrator said Mr Morrison currently has “no involvement” with the school.
“If she is going to teach or influence children anywhere in America, I think she should be prevented from having children around,” said Detective David Bailey, who worked on the case. “If we can’t protect our children, who can we protect?”
The incident at Delta Institute shows how a publicly funded private school has operated with little scrutiny, despite facing a criminal investigation into student abuse. However, our report revealed that there are several other such schools. We encourage you to sign up to receive updates as we publish more about what we discover across the country.
The school is still operating and still eligible to receive public funding from the state. However, this spring, the store name changed. It is now called North Star Academy.
Have trouble finding a school or taking advantage of voucher-style programs? Concerned about public or private schools in your area? Help us understand how families across the country are choosing their school options.
