Rockford Sun

Rockford School District 205 reported 18,427 suspensions and 59 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 18,814 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 18,486 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 67.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There were an additional 328 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for 13 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, 18 incidents involving violence without physical injury, an incident involving alcohol and tobacco, two incidents involving drugs, and 25 incidents 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 5,559 recorded cases. There were also 284 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 7,130 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 11,492 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 6,994 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 12,778 involved elementary or middle school students, while 5,649 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 3,860 cases reported. Additionally, 684 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 31.1% of the Rockford School District 205 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 10,354 suspensions and 40 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 25.3% of the student body, and received 2,942 suspensions and were expelled 10 times.

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	16	26	1
Violence with injury	24	219	13
Violence without injury	5,559	3,860	18
Drug offenses	77	250	2
Firearm	11	31	-
Other dangerous weapons	55	113	25
Tobacco	284	88	-
Other reason	7,130	684	-
Total	13,156	5,271	59

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	2,345	145
1-2 days	8,820	1,371
2-3 days	1,495	1,342
3-4 days	491	1,818
4-10 days	5	259
More than 10 days	-	336