West Cook News

Berwyn North School District 98 reported 106 suspensions and an expulsion during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 107 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 4.3 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence without physical injury.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 19 recorded cases. There were also nine incidents involving violence that caused physical injury.

There were 64 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 43 incidents involved female students.

All 106 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.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, who made up 79.5% of the Berwyn North School District 98 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 61 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 12.3% of the student body, and received 40 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	Expelled
Alcohol	-	-	-
Violence with injury	9	22	-
Violence without injury	19	43	1
Drug offenses	2	10	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	1	-
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	-	-	-
Total	30	76	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	13	9
1-2 days	17	36
2-3 days	-	11
3-4 days	-	16
4-10 days	-	2
More than 10 days	-	2