West Cook News

Oak Park Elementary School District 97 reported 186 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 186 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 3.4 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 49 recorded cases. There were also 16 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 37 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 121 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 65 incidents involved female students.

All 186 suspensions issued in the district involved elementary or middle school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 43 cases reported. Additionally, nine cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 16.1% of the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 107 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 52.7% of the student body, and received 39 suspensions.

Illinois has approved a 2025 budget that allocates $8.6 billion to K-12 education, a $350 million increase from the previous fiscal year—the minimum required under the state 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
Alcohol	-	-
Violence with injury	16	18
Violence without injury	49	43
Drug offenses	1	-
Firearm	3	1
Other dangerous weapons	5	-
Tobacco	3	1
Other reason	37	9
Total	114	72

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	19	4
1-2 days	78	37
2-3 days	15	22
3-4 days	2	9
4-10 days	-	-
More than 10 days	-	-