Cairo Unit School District 1 reports 66 incidents of students being suspended just in 2023-24 school year

Cairo Unit School District 1 reported 66 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 66 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 22.6 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

There were 40 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 26 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 23 involved elementary or middle school students, while 43 involved high school students.

The only out-of-school suspension was for incident involving drugs. Additionally, 65 cases were classified under the “other reason” category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 74.3% of the Cairo Unit School District 1 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 56 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 12.3% of the student body, and received three 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.