Steven Isoye State Board of Education Chairperson | linkedin.com
Steven Isoye State Board of Education Chairperson | linkedin.com
In total, there were 36 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 35 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 7.9 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There was an additional case of a student being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.
The expulsion was issued for an incident involving drugs.
Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence that caused physical injury and violence without physical injury, with four recorded cases. There was also one incident involving tobacco. Additionally, 12 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.
There were 26 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another nine incidents involved female students.
All 34 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 five cases reported. Additionally, six cases were classified under the "other reason" category.
In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 93% of the Fairfield Community High School District 225 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 30 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 2.3% of the student body, and received four 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 | Expelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | - | 1 | - |
| Violence with injury | 2 | 5 | - |
| Violence without injury | 2 | 3 | - |
| Drug offenses | - | 2 | 1 |
| Firearm | - | - | - |
| Other dangerous weapons | - | - | - |
| Tobacco | 1 | - | - |
| Other reason | 12 | 6 | - |
| Total | 17 | 17 | 1 |
| Duration | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| One day or less | - | - |
| 1-2 days | 11 | 1 |
| 2-3 days | 5 | 5 |
| 3-4 days | - | 3 |
| 4-10 days | 1 | 7 |
| More than 10 days | - | 1 |
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