Dupage Policy Journal

West Chicago Elementary School District 33 reported 151 suspensions and an expulsion during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 152 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 4.7 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving drugs.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 78 recorded cases. There were also 16 incidents involving drugs.

There were 118 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 34 incidents involved female students.

All 151 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 22 cases reported.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 81.1% of the West Chicago Elementary School District 33 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 111 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 3.2% of the student body, and received 25 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	1	-	-
Violence with injury	10	6	-
Violence without injury	78	22	-
Drug offenses	16	9	1
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	4	2	-
Tobacco	3	-	-
Other reason	-	-	-
Total	112	39	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	11	5
1-2 days	57	12
2-3 days	28	-
3-4 days	12	11
4-10 days	4	8
More than 10 days	-	3