Rockford Sun

Rockford School District 205 reported 18,793 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The district removed 459 students to alternative settings instead of suspending or expelling them. This equates to two percent of the 27,328 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 500 incidents with violence that caused physical injury, 5,166 incidents with violence without physical injury, 359 incidents with alcohol and tobacco, 287 incidents with drugs, 68 incidents witha dangerous weapon firearm,109 incidents with a dangerous weapon, other than a firearm.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 8,758. There were 2,523 incidents of violence without injury. For 9,819 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 12,628 suspensions, while 6,165 girls were suspended.

There were 12,836 elementary or middle school students, and 5,957 high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 3,546. There were 2,643 incidents of violence without injury. For 2,391 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Illinois ranks as the 5th state in terms of the overall number of schools and student enrollment among all states.

Illinois lawmakers enacted laws in 2015 to restrict schools from disciplining a disproportionate number of Black and minority students out of school and into the criminal justice system, often for minor misbehavior.

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
Alcohol	4	8
Violence with injury	171	329
Violence without injury	2523	2643
Drug offenses	104	183
Firearm	24	44
Other dangerous weapons	34	75
Tobacco	161	186
Other reason	8758	3546
Total	11779	7014

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	594	126
1-2 days	9819	2391
2-3 days	969	1304
3-4 days	368	898
4-10 days	13	2295
More than 10 days	16	0