Dupage Policy Journal

Community High School District 94 reported 684 suspensions and four expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 688 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 34.2 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving alcohol, with three recorded cases. There was also one incident involving drugs. Additionally, 593 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 464 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 224 incidents involved female students.

All 684 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving alcohol, with three cases reported. Additionally, 82 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 71.2% of the Community High School District 94 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 619 suspensions and four expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 20.4% of the student body, and received 30 suspensions.

Illinois has approved a 2025 budget that allocates $8.6 billion to K-12 education, a $350 million increase from the previous fiscal year—the minimum required under the state funding formula.

In 2024, Illinois registered a teacher retention rate of almost 90%. Yet, around 91% of superintendents reported having a 'serious' problem teacher shortage problem. In total, almost 4,100 teaching positions remained vacant by the end of the year.

“They’re putting a substitute in there, that’s somebody with a four-year degree that’s not in teaching. They’re using a retired teacher…or worse than that, they’re canceling the class, putting the kids in other classrooms, putting them in study hall, but those are strategies we have to use if there’s no qualified teacher,” said Beth Crider, regional superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48.

Type of Incident	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension	Expelled
Alcohol	3	3	-
Violence with injury	-	-	-
Violence without injury	-	-	-
Drug offenses	1	1	-
Firearm	-	-	1
Other dangerous weapons	-	1	-
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	593	82	3
Total	597	87	4

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	-	-
1-2 days	374	12
2-3 days	203	13
3-4 days	20	20
4-10 days	-	31
More than 10 days	-	11