West Central Reporter

Beardstown Community Unit School District 15 reported 468 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

According to the report, the district expelled or suspended 468 students during the year. This equates to 33 percent of the 1,406 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 32 incidents with alcohol and tobacco, 10 incidents with drugs, three incidents witha dangerous weapon firearm.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 290. There were three incidents of tobacco. For 247 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 385 suspensions, while 83 girls were suspended.

There were 292 elementary or middle school students, and 176 high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 133. There were 29 incidents of tobacco. For 60 incidents, students were suspended for two to three days.

Illinois ranks as the 5th state in terms of the overall number of schools and student enrollment among all states.

Illinois lawmakers enacted laws in 2015 to restrict schools from disciplining a disproportionate number of Black and minority students out of school and into the criminal justice system, often for minor misbehavior.

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
Alcohol	0	0
Violence with injury	0	0
Violence without injury	0	0
Drug offenses	0	10
Firearm	1	2
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	3	29
Other reason	290	133
Total	294	174

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	0	0
1-2 days	247	49
2-3 days	38	60
3-4 days	8	24
4-10 days	1	41
More than 10 days	0	0