Metro East Sun

School administrators within Madison County reportedly handed out 4,944 suspensions and 25 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 4,975 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 4,969 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There were an additional six cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for 14 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury and an incident involving violence without physical injury.

Among the 69 schools in the county, Alton Middle School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,066—or 21.4% 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 393 recorded cases. There were also 91 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,390 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 3,497 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,343 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Madison County schools, 3,389 involved elementary or middle school students, while 1,555 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 568 cases reported. Additionally, 774 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 69.7% of the student body in Madison County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 2,196 suspensions and 10 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (44.4% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Black students, who made up 13.7% of the student body, and received 1,661 suspensions and were expelled 14 times (33.7%).

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	-	15	-
Violence with injury	23	391	14
Violence without injury	393	568	1
Drug offenses	57	140	-
Firearm	2	3	-
Other dangerous weapons	7	50	-
Tobacco	91	40	-
Other reason	2,390	774	10
Total	2,963	1,981	25

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	457	70
1-2 days	1,686	628
2-3 days	602	335
3-4 days	143	399
4-10 days	53	390
More than 10 days	22	159