McLean County Times

School administrators within McLean County reportedly handed out 4,730 suspensions and an expulsion solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 4,734 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 4,731 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.2 actions per student in the county. There were an additional three cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence without physical injury.

Among the 52 schools in the county, Bloomington Junior High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 950—or 20.1% 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 195 recorded cases. There were also 101 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,564 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 2,910 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,813 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the McLean County schools, 3,163 involved elementary or middle school students, while 1,567 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 315 cases reported. Additionally, 1,156 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 13% of the student body in McLean County schools, were suspended the most in the county, with 2,079 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year (43.9% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by white students, who made up 62.4% of the student body, and received 1,407 suspensions and were expelled once (29.8%).

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	8	14	-
Violence with injury	24	74	-
Violence without injury	195	315	1
Drug offenses	53	103	-
Firearm	4	6	-
Other dangerous weapons	22	19	-
Tobacco	101	72	-
Other reason	2,564	1,156	-
Total	2,971	1,759	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	428	156
1-2 days	2,179	638
2-3 days	297	367
3-4 days	54	311
4-10 days	13	242
More than 10 days	-	45