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McLean County Times

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Dwight Common School District 232 reports 36 incidents of students being suspended in 2023-24 school year

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Micheal Bennett-Tejes Assistant Principal | Dwight Common School District 232

Micheal Bennett-Tejes Assistant Principal | Dwight Common School District 232

Dwight Common School District 232 reported 36 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 36 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 6.7 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving tobacco, with nine recorded cases. There were also seven incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 15 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 24 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 12 incidents involved female students.

All 36 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

The only out-of-school suspension was for incident involving tobacco. Additionally, three cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 82.8% of the Dwight Common School District 232 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 33 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 5.2% of the student body, and received two suspensions.

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.

Dwight Common School District 232 Student Discipline Report
Type of IncidentIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
Alcohol--
Violence with injury7-
Violence without injury--
Drug offenses--
Firearm--
Other dangerous weapons1-
Tobacco91
Other reason153
Total324
Length of Suspensions
DurationIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
One day or less7-
1-2 days112
2-3 days1-
3-4 days101
4-10 days31
More than 10 days--

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