North Cook News

Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 reported 235 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 235 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 3.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 64 recorded cases. There were also 18 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 64 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 186 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 49 incidents involved female students.

All 235 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 22 cases reported. Additionally, 22 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 46.6% of the Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 123 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 35.4% of the student body, and received 77 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.

Type of Incident	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
Alcohol	-	-
Violence with injury	10	9
Violence without injury	64	22
Drug offenses	18	6
Firearm	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	4	1
Tobacco	14	1
Other reason	64	22
Total	174	61

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	58	10
1-2 days	92	30
2-3 days	18	9
3-4 days	5	6
4-10 days	1	4
More than 10 days	-	2