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Friday, July 18, 2025

Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5 students suspended or expelled 505 times just in 2023-24 school year

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

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

Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5 reported 501 suspensions and four expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 505 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 11 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for three incidents involving violence without physical injury and an incident involving a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving tobacco, with 30 recorded cases. There were also 14 incidents involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 247 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 393 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 112 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 253 involved elementary or middle school students, while 248 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 76 cases reported. Additionally, 76 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 75.3% of the Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 293 suspensions and two expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 7.6% of the student body, and received 91 suspensions and were expelled once.

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.

Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5 Student Discipline Report
Type of IncidentIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School SuspensionExpelled
Alcohol-4-
Violence with injury-7-
Violence without injury14763
Drug offenses338-
Firearm-11
Other dangerous weapons-3-
Tobacco302-
Other reason24776-
Total2942074
Length of Suspensions
DurationIn-School SuspensionOut-of-School Suspension
One day or less472
1-2 days21373
2-3 days2545
3-4 days950
4-10 days-32
More than 10 days-5

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