Lincoln Community High School District 404 reported 97 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.
In total, there were 98 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 12.6 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.
The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence that caused physical injury.
Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with two recorded cases. There were also two incidents involving tobacco and violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, two cases were classified under “other reason” or left unspecified.
There were 62 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 36 incidents involved female students.
All 97 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.
Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco, with 64 cases reported. Additionally, 10 cases were classified under the “other reason” category.
In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 84.4% of the Lincoln Community High School District 404 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 86 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 5.5% of the student body, and received five 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 | Expelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | – | – | – |
| Violence with injury | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Violence without injury | 2 | 8 | – |
| Drug offenses | – | – | – |
| Firearm | – | – | – |
| Other dangerous weapons | – | 1 | – |
| Tobacco | 1 | 64 | – |
| Other reason | 2 | 10 | – |
| Total | 6 | 91 | 1 |
| Duration | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| One day or less | – | – |
| 1-2 days | 4 | 8 |
| 2-3 days | – | 5 |
| 3-4 days | 2 | 70 |
| 4-10 days | – | 1 |
| More than 10 days | – | 7 |
