Peoria Standard

School administrators within Fulton County reportedly handed out 670 suspensions and two expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 677 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 672 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.2 actions per student in the county. There were an additional five cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

Among the 21 schools in the county, Ingersoll Middle School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 168—or 24.8% 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 54 recorded cases. There were also 22 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 174 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 519 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 153 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Fulton County schools, 471 involved elementary or middle school students, while 199 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 151 cases reported. Additionally, 206 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 92.2% of the student body in Fulton County schools, were suspended the most in the county, with 509 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year (75.7% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 3% of the student body, and received 59 suspensions and were expelled once (8.9%).

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	-	2	-
Violence with injury	1	19	-
Violence without injury	54	151	-
Drug offenses	1	14	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	1	5	-
Tobacco	22	20	-
Other reason	174	206	2
Total	253	417	2

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	56	54
1-2 days	133	155
2-3 days	29	74
3-4 days	31	88
4-10 days	4	35
More than 10 days	-	11