South Cook News

Bloom Township High School District 206 reported 816 suspensions and 10 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 841 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 826 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 26.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There were an additional 15 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for seven incidents involving violence without physical injury, an incident involving a firearm, and two incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions all cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 464 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 362 incidents involved female students.

All 816 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 118 cases reported. Additionally, 614 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 47% of the Bloom Township High School District 206 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 615 suspensions and eight expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 44.3% of the student body, and received 150 suspensions and were expelled twice.

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	-	4	-
Violence with injury	-	9	-
Violence without injury	-	118	7
Drug offenses	-	58	-
Firearm	-	1	1
Other dangerous weapons	-	4	2
Tobacco	-	4	-
Other reason	4	614	-
Total	4	812	10

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	1	20
1-2 days	2	312
2-3 days	1	182
3-4 days	-	175
4-10 days	-	122
More than 10 days	-	1