Will County Gazette

Students in Kendall County schools were truant 11.3% of the time in the 2021-22 school year, the Illinois State Board of Education reported. The truancy rate was lower than the previous school year.

There were 26,317 students enrolled in Kendall County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 2,986 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 1.6%, 0.2% higher than the year before.

Statewide, Hardin County schools suffered the most truancy issues (38.4%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Monroe County schools successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (3.1%).

Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.

In 2022, Illinois had more than 1.9 million students enrolled in nearly 4,000 schools across 852 school districts. There were more than 350,000 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped three percent between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

Schools	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Autumn Creek Elementary School	688	3.9%
Bednarcik Junior High School	577	11.6%
Boulder Hill Elementary School	643	12.6%
Bristol Bay Elementary School	589	2.1%
Bristol Grade School	207	-
Brokaw Early Learning Center	398	-
Centennial Elementary School	289	9%
Churchill Elementary School	459	4.4%
Circle Center Grade School	548	2.8%
Emily G. Johns School	495	10.9%
Fox Chase Elementary School	591	8%
Grande Park Elementary School	565	5.8%
Grande Reserve Elementary School	577	3.2%
Homestead Elementary School	496	7.7%
Hunt Club Elementary School	637	9.8%
Lakewood Creek Elementary School	596	10.3%
Lisbon Grade School	106	-
Long Beach Elementary School	420	13.7%
Millbrook Junior High School	121	-
Murphy Junior High School	777	9.2%
Newark Community High School	165	-
Newark Elementary School	105	-
Old Post Elementary School	461	9%
Oswego East High School	2,838	17.5%
Oswego High School	2,856	24.8%
P.H. Miller Elementary School	439	8.3%
Plank Junior High School	748	17.3%
Plano High School	797	21.7%
Plano Middle School	331	12%
Prairie Point Elementary School	420	-
Southbury Elementary School	572	5.5%
The Wheatlands Elementary School	521	4.9%
Thompson Junior High School	825	14.9%
Traughber Junior High School	1,024	9.2%
Wolf's Crossing Elementary School	410	9.3%
Yorkville Grade School	229	6%
Yorkville High School	2,033	12%
Yorkville Intermediate School	690	4.1%
Yorkville Middle School	1,035	6.3%