Southern Illinois News

School administrators within Union County reportedly handed out 513 suspensions and six expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 521 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 519 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.2 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 six incidents involving drugs.

Among the 15 schools in the county, Anna-Jonesboro High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 214—or 41.1% 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 27 recorded cases. There were also 23 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 297 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 369 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 150 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Union County schools, 285 involved elementary or middle school students, while 228 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 27 cases reported. Additionally, 84 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 86.6% of the student body in Union County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 358 suspensions and three expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (69.6% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Black students, who made up 0.5% of the student body, and received 33 suspensions (6.4%).

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	6	22	-
Violence without injury	27	27	-
Drug offenses	1	7	6
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	1	-	-
Tobacco	23	18	-
Other reason	297	84	-
Total	355	158	6

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	78	7
1-2 days	249	69
2-3 days	21	45
3-4 days	6	21
4-10 days	1	10
More than 10 days	-	6