Lake County Gazette

School administrators within Lake County reportedly handed out 11,587 suspensions and 10 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 11,622 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 11,597 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There were an additional 25 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, an incident involving drugs, and three incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among the 179 schools in the county, Waukegan High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,489—or 12.8% 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 616 recorded cases. There were also 225 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 5,388 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 7,905 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 3,535 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Lake County schools, 5,822 involved elementary or middle school students, while 5,765 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 1,752 cases reported. Additionally, 2,270 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 35.4% of the student body in Lake County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 5,404 suspensions and six expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (46.6% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Black students, who made up 6.7% of the student body, and received 3,154 suspensions and were expelled once (27.2%).

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	17	50	-
Violence with injury	135	273	-
Violence without injury	616	1,752	1
Drug offenses	225	524	1
Firearm	2	15	-
Other dangerous weapons	37	77	3
Tobacco	139	67	-
Other reason	5,388	2,270	5
Total	6,559	5,028	10

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	900	306
1-2 days	4,265	1,871
2-3 days	708	1,029
3-4 days	365	1,001
4-10 days	237	631
More than 10 days	84	190