Kendall County Times

School administrators within Kendall County reportedly handed out 4,145 suspensions and nine expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 4,192 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 4,154 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.1 actions per student in the county. There were an additional 38 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for four incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, three incidents involving violence without physical injury, and an incident involving a firearm.

Among the 39 schools in the county, Yorkville High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 879—or 21% 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 338 recorded cases. There were also 189 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,076 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 2,974 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,135 incidents involved female students, while the two non-binary students were involved in two incidents.

Of all suspensions issued in the Kendall County schools, 1,766 involved elementary or middle school students, while 2,379 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 278 cases reported. Additionally, 602 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 50.1% of the student body in Kendall County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 1,357 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year (32.7% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 29.7% of the student body, and received 1,287 suspensions and were expelled three times (31.1%).

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	8	10	-
Violence with injury	110	116	4
Violence without injury	338	278	3
Drug offenses	172	162	-
Firearm	2	7	1
Other dangerous weapons	17	16	-
Tobacco	189	42	-
Other reason	2,076	602	1
Total	2,912	1,233	9

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	631	107
1-2 days	1,851	536
2-3 days	305	279
3-4 days	87	125
4-10 days	32	140
More than 10 days	6	46