Will County Gazette

Crete-Monee Community Unit School District 201-U reported 1,752 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,752 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 39.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 289 recorded cases. There were also 75 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 705 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 1,129 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 623 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 930 involved elementary or middle school students, while 822 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 302 cases reported. Additionally, 203 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 59% of the Crete-Monee Community Unit School District 201-U student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 1,355 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 20.4% of the student body, and received 168 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
Alcohol	-	-
Violence with injury	-	-
Violence without injury	289	302
Drug offenses	37	45
Firearm	-	1
Other dangerous weapons	11	15
Tobacco	75	69
Other reason	705	203
Total	1,117	635

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	74	13
1-2 days	928	228
2-3 days	104	127
3-4 days	10	175
4-10 days	1	63
More than 10 days	-	29