Quantcast

NW Illinois News

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Freeport School District 145 reports 1,685 incidents of students being suspended just in 2023-24 school year

Webp donnaleaklimpar18

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

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

Freeport School District 145 reported 1,685 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,685 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 48 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 without physical injury, with 70 recorded cases. There were also 13 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 1,033 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 1,173 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 512 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 1,083 involved elementary or middle school students, while 602 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 176 cases reported. Additionally, 306 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 25.2% of the Freeport School District 145 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 893 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 41.9% of the student body, and received 312 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.

Freeport School District 145 Student Discipline Report
Type of IncidentIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
Alcohol--
Violence with injury1349
Violence without injury70176
Drug offenses815
Firearm--
Other dangerous weapons113
Tobacco-1
Other reason1,033306
Total1,125560
Length of Suspensions
DurationIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
One day or less44947
1-2 days569157
2-3 days82116
3-4 days21150
4-10 days358
More than 10 days132

!RECEIVE ALERTS

The next time we write about any of these orgs, we’ll email you a link to the story. You may edit your settings or unsubscribe at any time.
Sign-up

DONATE

Help support the Metric Media Foundation's mission to restore community based news.
Donate

MORE NEWS