Rockford Sun

School administrators within Winnebago County reportedly handed out 22,220 suspensions and 59 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 22,609 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 22,279 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.5 actions per student in the county. There were an additional 330 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 the 77 schools in the county, Kennedy Middle School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 2,142—or 9.5% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 5,596 recorded cases. There were also 395 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 9,288 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 14,168 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 8,111 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Winnebago County schools, 14,680 involved elementary or middle school students, while 7,540 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 3,923 cases reported. Additionally, 1,777 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 20.3% of the student body in Winnebago County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 11,013 suspensions and 40 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (49.6% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by white students, who made up 44.1% of the student body, and received 5,109 suspensions and were expelled 10 times (23%).

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	18	34	1
Violence with injury	60	324	13
Violence without injury	5,596	3,923	18
Drug offenses	108	334	2
Firearm	11	31	-
Other dangerous weapons	55	125	25
Tobacco	395	141	-
Other reason	9,288	1,777	-
Total	15,531	6,689	59

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	2,583	219
1-2 days	10,663	1,887
2-3 days	1,727	1,618
3-4 days	528	2,095
4-10 days	30	435
More than 10 days	-	435