Southern Illinois News

Shawnee Community Unit School District 84 reported 30 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The district removed one student to alternative settings instead of suspending or expelling them. This equates to less than one percent of the 269 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 29 incidents with violence without physical injury.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for violence without injury, of which there were 13. For six incidents, students were suspended for a day or less.

Boy students received 22 suspensions, while eight girls were suspended.

There were 25 elementary or middle school students, and five high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for violence without injury, of which there were 16. There was one incident of unspecified reasons. For 12 incidents, students were suspended for two to three days.

Illinois ranks as the 5th state in terms of the overall number of schools and student enrollment among all states.

Illinois lawmakers enacted laws in 2015 to restrict schools from disciplining a disproportionate number of Black and minority students out of school and into the criminal justice system, often for minor misbehavior.

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
Alcohol	0	0
Violence with injury	0	0
Violence without injury	13	16
Drug offenses	0	0
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	0	0
Other reason	0	1
Total	13	17

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	6	0
1-2 days	6	1
2-3 days	1	12
3-4 days	0	2
4-10 days	0	2
More than 10 days	0	0