Federal prosecutors have convened a rarely used special grand jury focused on D.C. youth that includes an examination of public schools in the nation’s capital, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The scope of the investigation appears broad with prosecutors focused on supervision and oversight of children in the District. The people said prosecutors have contacted multiple D.C. Public Schools teachers and other personnel in recent days to question them about truancy and graduation rates, and how attendance records are kept. The people, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

“This is about safeguarding youth in the District,” said a law enforcement official.

The use of a special grand jury allows prosecutors — with a judge’s approval — to release a detailed report about its investigation, even if no charges are filed.

A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the office could “neither confirm or deny” an investigation.

“Our focus remains on welcoming students and families back for a strong start to the new school year, and that is what we want our principals and teachers focused on as well,” the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said in a statement. “We make all school data public and will continue to do so.”

The federal investigation into D.C. schools could reignite tensions between the Trump administration and the local government.

President Donald Trump has vilified Democratic-run cities as poorly managed and has taken a particular interest in D.C., repeatedly deriding the city as crime infested and dirty. Trump deployed the National Guard in August 2025 to patrol the streets amid fierce local pushback and poured significant federal resources into what he has characterized as improving public safety and beautifying the city. Pirro has repeatedly criticized District officials as too lax on youth crime.

A federal investigation into what appears to be a city’s day-to-day governance is rare. Because D.C. is not a state, the federal government has unique oversight and authority over local affairs in the nation’s capital.

At a news conference in May, Pirro in part blamed teenagers and their parents for “the upheaval that is going on in this district.” She tied truancy rates to recent destructive “teen takeovers” — a trend that has unfolded in D.C. and other cities across the country in which dozens or hundreds of young people meet in buzzy nightlife areas and sometimes cause mayhem.

Pirro threatened to prosecute parents whose teenagers break city curfew and participate in the takeovers. The U.S. attorney said she wanted the school records of students who were truant and violating curfew. The city did not voluntarily release those records, a person familiar with the matter said.

At the news conference, Pirro listed circumstances under which authorities could make arrests, including: “when teens are repeatedly violating the curfew, when they are repeatedly truant from school.” She added, “We’re coming for you, and we’re coming for your parents.”

Teachers and staff from multiple D.C. high schools, including Ballou High School in Southeast Washington, have been called to appear before the special grand jury, the people familiar with the matter said. At least one person has been formally questioned in front of the special grand jury, one of the people said. Others are scheduled to appear in the coming days, two people said.

The appearances comes as the school system, which has more than 50,000 students, is beginning a new academic year.

Ballou was at the center of a high-profile D.C. schools scandal in 2018. Prompted by media reporting and whistleblower accounts, a city investigation found that the high school had failed to follow citywide requirements by graduating students who missed too many classes or improperly took makeup classes, undermining the validity of hundreds of diplomas.

While the initial scrutiny focused on Ballou, many D.C. high schools were engulfed in the scandal, and the investigation ultimately determined that one-third of the graduating class of 2017 in D.C. did not meet requirements to graduate.

At the time, the FBI launched an investigation into the matter; the probe did not appear to go anywhere.

The controversy ignited debate in education circles around the country about rising graduation rates and whether students were wrongly being allowed to move to the next grade and graduate without meeting appropriate standards.

The city said at the time that it tightened enforcement of long-ignored attendance rules to ensure that only qualifying students receive a diploma.

But truancy has persisted in the city’s schools, and D.C. leaders have struggled to improve the high absenteeism rate. The Washington Post reported last year that, during the 2023-2024 school year, nearly 16,000 D.C. Public Schools students — one-third of its K-12 enrollment — were truant, meaning they missed at least two weeks of classes without an excuse.

Still, school districts across the country struggle with high absenteeism and teen violence, and a criminal investigation into the matter is unusual.

It is even more unusual that prosecutors would opt to use a special grand jury — an investigatory tool that has rarely been used in the District.

Unlike a typical grand jury, a special grand jury can release a potentially critical report about the subject of an investigation, even if prosecutors do not find enough evidence to bring anyone to trial.

Special grand juries, on the rare occasions when they are convened, are typically used to pursue investigations of government officials or probe broad conspiracy cases and organized criminal activity.

Steven Vandervelden, one of Pirro’s top allies in her office, is overseeing the investigation, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Pirro has relied on Vandervelden to investigate some of her office’s most controversial cases, including a probe into then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell that did not result in charges.

Vandervelden also headed an inquiry into allegations that the D.C. police force purposely skewed its crime statistics. After a review of thousands of police reports and interviews with more than 50 witnesses, a seven-page report from Vandervelden concluded last year that D.C. police crime statistics were “likely unreliable and inaccurate” because of misclassifications, errors and purposefully downgraded crime classifications.

In general, grand jury proceedings are a secretive part of the legal process in which prosecutors present evidence and jurors vote on whether there is evidence to charge someone with a crime.

A special grand jury has several unique characteristics. The panel focuses only on a single case — or a string of cases that prosecutors present as related — instead of juggling a variety of matters as most grand juries do. And a special grand jury’s ability to issue a report at the end of an investigation sets it apart.

That report can name specific individuals even if prosecutors do not find enough evidence to bring the people to trial, as long as the report shows that there is a “preponderance of evidence” of wrongdoing. That is a significantly lower standard than the “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” that is needed to convict someone.

A judge must sign off on the report before it is publicly released, ensuring the report meets the requirements for citing someone by name.

A special grand jury generally runs for 18 months, although it can wrap up its work sooner — or its tenure can be extended in six-month increments by a judge, with the total time not to exceed 36 months.