SE Illinois News

School administrators within Wayne County reportedly handed out 108 suspensions and two expulsions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 111 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 110 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of less than 0.1 actions per student in the county. There was an additional case of a student being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving drugs.

Among the 12 schools in the county, Fairfield Community High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 36—or 32.4% 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 12 recorded cases. There were also nine incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 36 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 72 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 38 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Wayne County schools, 64 involved elementary or middle school students, while 44 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 13 cases reported. Additionally, 23 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 94.6% of the student body in Wayne County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 96 suspensions and two expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (89.1% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Black students, who made up 0.4% of the student body, and received four suspensions (3.6%).

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	-	1	-
Violence with injury	3	6	-
Violence without injury	12	13	-
Drug offenses	-	5	1
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	-	-
Tobacco	9	-	-
Other reason	36	23	1
Total	60	48	2

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	9	3
1-2 days	41	15
2-3 days	9	11
3-4 days	-	8
4-10 days	1	10
More than 10 days	-	1