Kane County Reporter

Aurora East Unit School District 131 reported 1,249 suspensions and three expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,256 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 1,252 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 10.4 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There were an additional four cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving drugs and an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 296 recorded cases. There were also 131 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, seven cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 802 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 450 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 862 involved elementary or middle school students, while 387 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 358 cases reported. Additionally, 30 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 87.5% of the Aurora East Unit School District 131 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 948 suspensions and two expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 7.6% of the student body, and received 232 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.

Type of Incident	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension	Expelled
Alcohol	8	9	-
Violence with injury	54	123	-
Violence without injury	296	358	-
Drug offenses	131	77	1
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	16	33	1
Tobacco	79	28	-
Other reason	7	30	1
Total	591	658	3

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	87	29
1-2 days	331	175
2-3 days	137	182
3-4 days	30	104
4-10 days	5	69
More than 10 days	1	99