Peoria Standard

School administrators within Woodford County reportedly handed out 439 suspensions and two expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 443 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 441 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 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 an incident involving alcohol and tobacco.

Among the 19 schools in the county, Metamora High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 115—or 26% 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 39 recorded cases. There were also six incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 134 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 366 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 75 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Woodford County schools, 167 involved elementary or middle school students, while 272 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco, with 60 cases reported. Additionally, 106 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 90.2% of the student body in Woodford County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 350 suspensions and two expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (79.8% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 3.4% of the student body, and received 23 suspensions (5.2%).

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	-	1	-
Violence with injury	3	7	-
Violence without injury	39	50	-
Drug offenses	1	27	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	3	2	-
Tobacco	6	60	1
Other reason	134	106	1
Total	186	253	2

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	71	18
1-2 days	99	103
2-3 days	13	60
3-4 days	2	43
4-10 days	1	21
More than 10 days	-	8