Grundy Reporter

School administrators within Grundy County reportedly handed out 748 suspensions and two expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 753 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 750 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There were an additional three cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving violence without physical injury and an incident involving a firearm.

Among the 22 schools in the county, Minooka Community High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 184—or 24.4% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving tobacco, with 68 recorded cases. There were also 63 incidents involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 264 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 589 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 161 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Grundy County schools, 399 involved elementary or middle school students, while 241 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 71 cases reported. Additionally, 110 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 71.8% of the student body in Grundy County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 475 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year (63.5% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 19.7% of the student body, and received 160 suspensions and were expelled once (21.5%).

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	-	1	-
Violence with injury	4	31	-
Violence without injury	63	71	1
Drug offenses	22	49	-
Firearm	-	1	1
Other dangerous weapons	1	12	-
Tobacco	68	51	-
Other reason	264	110	-
Total	422	326	2

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	92	14
1-2 days	225	118
2-3 days	30	52
3-4 days	45	56
4-10 days	28	42
More than 10 days	2	44