East Central Reporter

Beecher City Community Unit School District 20 reported 43 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 43 students during the year. This equates to 12 percent of the 346 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for one incident with violence without physical injury, 21 incidents with alcohol and tobacco.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 18. There were 11 incidents of tobacco. For 14 incidents, students were suspended for two to three days.

Boy students received 37 suspensions, while six girls were suspended.

There were nine elementary or middle school students, and 34 high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for tobacco, of which there were 10. There were three incidents of unspecified reasons. For seven 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	1	0
Drug offenses	0	0
Firearm	0	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	11	10
Other reason	18	3
Total	30	13

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	4	0
1-2 days	10	7
2-3 days	14	4
3-4 days	1	1
4-10 days	1	1
More than 10 days	0	0