Jason Helfer Chief Education Officer - Instruction | Twitter
Jason Helfer Chief Education Officer - Instruction | Twitter
In total, there were 5,255 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 67.7 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 violence that caused physical injury, with 189 recorded cases. There were also 79 incidents involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 769 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.
There were 3,416 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,839 incidents involved female students.
Of all suspensions issued in the district, 4,168 involved elementary or middle school students, while 1,087 involved high school students.
Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 1,643 cases reported. Additionally, 1,835 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.
In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 50.1% of the Decatur School District 61 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 3,476 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 28.3% of the student body, and received 995 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.
| Type of Incident | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | - | 3 |
| Violence with injury | 189 | 1,643 |
| Violence without injury | 79 | 397 |
| Drug offenses | - | 76 |
| Firearm | - | - |
| Other dangerous weapons | 4 | 22 |
| Tobacco | 18 | 220 |
| Other reason | 769 | 1,835 |
| Total | 1,059 | 4,196 |
| Duration | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| One day or less | 359 | 297 |
| 1-2 days | 621 | 1,775 |
| 2-3 days | 55 | 978 |
| 3-4 days | 21 | 799 |
| 4-10 days | 3 | 281 |
| More than 10 days | - | 66 |
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