McHenry Times

Huntley Community School District 158 reported 246 suspensions and an expulsion during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 247 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 2.9 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving violence that caused physical injury.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 77 recorded cases. There were also 22 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 20 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 183 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 64 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 110 involved elementary or middle school students, while 136 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 56 cases reported. Additionally, eight cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 69% of the Huntley Community School District 158 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 172 suspensions and one expulsion reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 15.4% of the student body, and received 47 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	1	2	-
Violence with injury	2	2	1
Violence without injury	77	56	-
Drug offenses	6	46	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	-	-
Tobacco	22	4	-
Other reason	20	8	-
Total	128	118	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	26	4
1-2 days	91	35
2-3 days	9	65
3-4 days	2	7
4-10 days	-	7
More than 10 days	-	-