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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

East Dubuque Community Unit School District 119 students suspended or expelled 63 times during 2023-24 school year

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Dr. Donna Leak Vice-Chair - Flossmoor | firststudentinc.com

Dr. Donna Leak Vice-Chair - Flossmoor | firststudentinc.com

East Dubuque Community Unit School District 119 reported 59 suspensions and four expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 63 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 10.2 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving alcohol and tobacco and three incidents involving drugs.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving tobacco, with 13 recorded cases. There were also eight incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 18 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 38 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 25 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 28 involved elementary or middle school students, while 31 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving drugs, with eight cases reported. Additionally, six cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 86.5% of the East Dubuque Community Unit School District 119 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 46 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 5.8% of the student body, and received eight suspensions and were expelled three times.

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.

East Dubuque Community Unit School District 119 Student Discipline Report
Type of IncidentIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School SuspensionExpelled
Alcohol---
Violence with injury82-
Violence without injury1--
Drug offenses-83
Firearm---
Other dangerous weapons---
Tobacco1331
Other reason186-
Total40194
Length of Suspensions
DurationIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
One day or less10-
1-2 days183
2-3 days61
3-4 days62
4-10 days-12
More than 10 days-1

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