SE Illinois News

School administrators within Saline County reportedly handed out 820 suspensions and five expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 827 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 825 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.3 actions per student in the county. There were an additional two cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for four incidents involving drugs.

Among the 12 schools in the county, Harrisburg Middle School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 297—or 35.9% 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 32 recorded cases. There were also 16 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 497 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 647 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 178 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Saline County schools, 554 involved elementary or middle school students, while 266 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco, with 40 cases reported. Additionally, 175 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 85.4% of the student body in Saline County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 630 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year (76.5% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 5.5% of the student body, and received 71 suspensions and were expelled once (8.7%).

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	-	-	-
Violence with injury	5	18	-
Violence without injury	32	29	-
Drug offenses	-	3	4
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	1	4	-
Tobacco	16	40	-
Other reason	497	175	1
Total	551	269	5

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	9	15
1-2 days	459	88
2-3 days	53	59
3-4 days	19	76
4-10 days	11	23
More than 10 days	-	8