Lake County Gazette

Big Hollow School District 38 reported 293 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 294 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 17.5 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 without physical injury, with 80 recorded cases. There were also four incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 106 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 248 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 46 incidents involved female students.

All 293 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 50 cases reported. Additionally, 46 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 52.2% of the Big Hollow School District 38 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 134 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 30.7% of the student body, and received 97 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	-	-	-
Violence with injury	-	-	-
Violence without injury	80	50	-
Drug offenses	4	4	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	2	1	-
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	106	46	1
Total	192	101	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	66	36
1-2 days	116	39
2-3 days	10	12
3-4 days	-	4
4-10 days	-	8
More than 10 days	-	2