East Central Reporter

Arthur Community Unit School District 305 reported 79 suspensions or expulsions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The district removed one student to alternative settings instead of suspending or expelling them. This equates to less than one percent of the 1,024 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for one incident with violence without physical injury, eight incidents with drugs, two incidents with a dangerous weapon, other than a firearm.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 60. There were five incidents of drug offense. For 47 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 47 suspensions, while 32 girls were suspended.

There were 18 elementary or middle school students, and 61 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 eight. There were three incidents of drug offense. For nine incidents, students were suspended for one to two 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	1
Drug offenses	5	3
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	1	1
Tobacco	0	0
Other reason	60	8
Total	66	13

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	12	1
1-2 days	47	9
2-3 days	5	2
3-4 days	2	1
4-10 days	0	0
More than 10 days	0	0