School administrators within Pope County reportedly handed out 67 suspensions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.
In total, there were 67 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county.
Countywide, all of the disciplinary actions were registered in Pope County Elementary School.
The county reported that all in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury and tobacco, with 10 recorded cases. Additionally, 21 cases were classified under “other reason” or left unspecified.
There were 46 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 21 incidents involved female students.
All 67 suspensions issued in the Pope County schools involved elementary or middle school students.
Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 18 cases reported. Additionally, eight cases were classified under the “other reason” category.
In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 93.6% of the student body in Pope County schools, were suspended the most in the county, with 63 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year (94% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 2.6% of the student body, and received two suspensions (3%).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | – | – |
| Violence with injury | – | 10 |
| Violence without injury | 5 | 18 |
| Drug offenses | – | – |
| Firearm | – | – |
| Other dangerous weapons | – | – |
| Tobacco | 5 | – |
| Other reason | 21 | 8 |
| Total | 31 | 36 |
| Duration | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| One day or less | – | 5 |
| 1-2 days | 29 | 14 |
| 2-3 days | 2 | 7 |
| 3-4 days | – | 9 |
| 4-10 days | – | 1 |
| More than 10 days | – | – |
