Will County Gazette

School administrators within Will County reportedly handed out 14,203 suspensions and 22 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 14,313 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 14,225 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There were an additional 88 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for 12 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, two incidents involving violence without physical injury, three incidents involving drugs, and two incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among the 169 schools in the county, Joliet West High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,692—or 11.8% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 924 recorded cases. There were also 328 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 7,077 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 9,672 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 4,183 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Will County schools, 6,716 involved elementary or middle school students, while 7,487 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 1,513 cases reported. Additionally, 2,496 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 13.3% of the student body in Will County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 5,365 suspensions and 10 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (37.8% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 29.1% of the student body, and received 4,666 suspensions and were expelled 10 times (32.9%).

Some schools or districts may not publish complete disciplinary data due to privacy protections or reporting limitations, which could affect the totals.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school 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	58	119	-
Violence with injury	328	493	12
Violence without injury	924	1,513	2
Drug offenses	231	358	3
Firearm	-	8	-
Other dangerous weapons	28	87	2
Tobacco	302	181	-
Other reason	7,077	2,496	3
Total	8,948	5,255	22

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	1,213	288
1-2 days	6,615	2,437
2-3 days	583	1,131
3-4 days	485	842
4-10 days	40	410
More than 10 days	12	147