North Egypt News

Mount Vernon Township High School District 201 reported 171 suspensions and two expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 173 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 14.4 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving tobacco, violence that caused physical injury, and violence without physical injury, with six recorded cases. There was also one incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

There were 97 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 76 incidents involved female students.

All 171 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco, with 58 cases reported.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 71.5% of the Mount Vernon Township High School District 201 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 111 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 14.2% of the student body, and received 39 suspensions and were expelled once.

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	2	27	-
Violence without injury	2	50	-
Drug offenses	-	28	-
Firearm	-	-	1
Other dangerous weapons	1	1	-
Tobacco	2	58	-
Other reason	-	-	1
Total	7	164	2

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	-	-
1-2 days	2	8
2-3 days	4	4
3-4 days	-	96
4-10 days	-	34
More than 10 days	1	22