McLean County Times

Lexington Community Unit School District 7 reported 45 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

According to the report, the district expelled or suspended 45 students during the year. This equates to nine percent of the 489 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for eight incidents with violence without physical injury, two incidents with alcohol and tobacco.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 22. There were four incidents of violence without injury. For 18 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 31 suspensions, while 14 girls were suspended.

There were 34 elementary or middle school students, and 11 high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 13. There were four incidents of violence without injury. For nine incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Illinois ranks as the 5th state in terms of the overall number of schools and student enrollment among all states.

Illinois lawmakers enacted laws in 2015 to restrict schools from disciplining a disproportionate number of Black and minority students out of school and into the criminal justice system, often for minor misbehavior.

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
Alcohol	0	0
Violence with injury	0	0
Violence without injury	4	4
Drug offenses	0	0
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	1	1
Other reason	22	13
Total	27	18

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	9	8
1-2 days	18	9
2-3 days	0	1
3-4 days	0	0
4-10 days	0	0
More than 10 days	0	0