Macon Reporter

Sullivan Community Unit School District 300 reported 353 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The district removed six students to alternative settings instead of suspending or expelling them. This equates to less than one percent of the 1,155 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 15 incidents with violence that caused physical injury, 61 incidents with violence without physical injury, 12 incidents with alcohol and tobacco, three incidents with drugs.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 229. There were 38 incidents of violence without injury. For 236 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 253 suspensions, while 100 girls were suspended.

There were 141 elementary or middle school students, and 212 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 33. There were 23 incidents of violence without injury. For 26 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	9	6
Violence without injury	38	23
Drug offenses	0	3
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	12	0
Other reason	229	33
Total	288	65

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	10	4
1-2 days	236	26
2-3 days	34	13
3-4 days	4	12
4-10 days	4	10
More than 10 days	0	0