Will County Gazette

Steger School District 194 reported 415 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

According to the report, the district expelled or suspended 415 students during the year. This equates to 29 percent of the 1,438 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 45 incidents with violence that caused physical injury, 47 incidents with violence without physical injury, nine incidents with alcohol and tobacco, 15 incidents with drugs, seven 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 188. There were 14 incidents of violence without injury. For 164 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 312 suspensions, while 103 girls were suspended.

There were 415 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 104. There were 45 incidents of violence with injury. For 65 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	0	1
Violence with injury	0	45
Violence without injury	14	33
Drug offenses	0	15
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	7
Tobacco	1	7
Other reason	188	104
Total	203	212

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	35	0
1-2 days	164	65
2-3 days	4	41
3-4 days	0	55
4-10 days	0	51
More than 10 days	0	0