Will County Gazette

Joliet Public School District 86 reported 1,083 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The district removed 46 students to alternative settings instead of suspending or expelling them. This equates to less than one percent of the 9,814 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 102 incidents with violence that caused physical injury, 146 incidents with violence without physical injury, 85 incidents with alcohol and tobacco, 23 incidents with drugs, 30 incidents with a dangerous weapon, other than a firearm.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 268. There were 12 incidents of violence without injury. For 263 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 780 suspensions, while 303 girls were suspended.

There were 1,083 elementary or middle school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 429. There were 134 incidents of violence without injury. For 361 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Illinois ranks as the 5th state in terms of the overall number of schools and student enrollment among all states.

Illinois lawmakers enacted laws in 2015 to restrict schools from disciplining a disproportionate number of Black and minority students out of school and into the criminal justice system, often for minor misbehavior.

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
Alcohol	9	11
Violence with injury	7	95
Violence without injury	12	134
Drug offenses	1	22
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	4	26
Tobacco	2	63
Other reason	268	429
Total	303	780

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	2	0
1-2 days	263	361
2-3 days	33	268
3-4 days	3	118
4-10 days	2	33
More than 10 days	0	0