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Will County Gazette

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Mokena School District 159 students suspended 15 times in 2023-24 school year

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Mokena School District 159 | Official Website

Mokena School District 159 | Official Website

Mokena School District 159 reported 15 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 15 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 1 incident per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

Among in-school suspension where a reason was specified, the only case was given for incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm. Additionally, nine cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 14 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another one incident involved a female student—a rate of approximately 0.1 incidents per 100 female students.

All 15 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

The only out-of-school suspension was for incident involving a firearm. Additionally, four cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 79.4% of the Mokena School District 159 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 11 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 12.1% of the student body, and received two 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.

Mokena School District 159 Student Discipline Report
Type of IncidentIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
Alcohol--
Violence with injury--
Violence without injury--
Drug offenses--
Firearm-1
Other dangerous weapons1-
Tobacco--
Other reason94
Total105
Length of Suspensions
DurationIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
One day or less3-
1-2 days51
2-3 days12
3-4 days11
4-10 days-1
More than 10 days--

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