Sangamon Sun

School administrators within Logan County reportedly handed out 237 suspensions and an expulsion solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 239 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 238 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There was an additional case of a student being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence that caused physical injury.

Among the 14 schools in the county, Lincoln Community High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 98—or 41% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving tobacco, with 23 recorded cases. There were also 11 incidents involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 45 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 157 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 81 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Logan County schools, 103 involved elementary or middle school students, while 134 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco, with 65 cases reported. Additionally, 35 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 86.8% of the student body in Logan County schools, were suspended the most in the county, with 188 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year (79% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 6.1% of the student body, and received 19 suspensions (8%).

Some schools or districts may not publish complete disciplinary data due to privacy protections or reporting limitations, which could affect the totals.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school 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	Expelled
Alcohol	-	5	-
Violence with injury	1	11	1
Violence without injury	11	37	-
Drug offenses	-	2	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	2	-
Tobacco	23	65	-
Other reason	45	35	-
Total	80	157	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	20	5
1-2 days	52	34
2-3 days	6	15
3-4 days	2	87
4-10 days	-	8
More than 10 days	-	8