Dupage Policy Journal

Community Unit School District 200 reported 845 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 846 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 7.4 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence that caused physical injury.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving drugs, with 37 recorded cases. There were also 17 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 656 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 631 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 215 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 463 involved elementary or middle school students, while 382 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving drugs, with 18 cases reported. Additionally, 101 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 18.1% of the Community Unit School District 200 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 323 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 62.4% of the student body, and received 224 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	2	1	-
Violence with injury	-	4	1
Violence without injury	-	1	-
Drug offenses	37	18	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	5	2	-
Tobacco	17	1	-
Other reason	656	101	-
Total	717	128	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	31	7
1-2 days	517	33
2-3 days	106	44
3-4 days	43	26
4-10 days	20	10
More than 10 days	-	8