North Cook News

Township High School District 214 reported 1,388 suspensions and three expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,391 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 11.6 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving a firearm and an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving drugs, with 132 recorded cases. There were also 103 incidents involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 483 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 971 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 420 incidents involved female students.

All 1,388 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 125 cases reported. Additionally, 208 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 34.7% of the Township High School District 214 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 854 suspensions and two expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 50.6% of the student body, and received 291 suspensions and were expelled once.

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	Expelled
Alcohol	17	13	-
Violence with injury	57	102	-
Violence without injury	103	125	-
Drug offenses	132	95	-
Firearm	4	3	1
Other dangerous weapons	19	27	1
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	483	208	1
Total	815	573	3

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	18	-
1-2 days	708	304
2-3 days	80	149
3-4 days	9	58
4-10 days	-	46
More than 10 days	-	16