Lake County Gazette

Round Lake Community Unit School District 116 reported 1,870 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,871 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 30.7 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for .

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 19 recorded cases. There were also 15 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 1,523 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 1,270 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 601 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 870 involved elementary or middle school students, while 1,000 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 18 cases reported. Additionally, 262 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 79.1% of the Round Lake Community Unit School District 116 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 1,190 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 7.7% of the student body, and received 385 suspensions.

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	7	7	-
Violence with injury	19	18	-
Violence without injury	-	-	-
Drug offenses	-	-	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	12	7	-
Tobacco	15	-	-
Other reason	1,523	262	1
Total	1,576	294	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	117	31
1-2 days	659	151
2-3 days	256	70
3-4 days	247	12
4-10 days	213	16
More than 10 days	84	14