Will County Gazette

Joliet Township High School District 204 reported 3,316 suspensions and 15 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 3,334 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 3,331 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 49.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There were an additional three cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for 11 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, an incident involving violence without physical injury, an incident involving drugs, and an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 157 recorded cases. There were also 68 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,288 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 2,154 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,177 incidents involved female students.

All 3,316 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 216 cases reported. Additionally, 307 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 59.7% of the Joliet Township High School District 204 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 1,724 suspensions and seven expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 17.7% of the student body, and received 1,203 suspensions and were expelled seven times.

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	-	-	-
Violence with injury	157	216	11
Violence without injury	36	77	1
Drug offenses	57	75	1
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	3	15	1
Tobacco	68	17	-
Other reason	2,288	307	1
Total	2,609	707	15

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	140	-
1-2 days	2,087	370
2-3 days	121	162
3-4 days	234	121
4-10 days	17	35
More than 10 days	10	19