Carbondale Reporter

Marion Community Unit School District 2 reported 550 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 3,695 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 80 incidents with violence without physical injury, 34 incidents with alcohol and tobacco, nine incidents with drugs, two incidents witha dangerous weapon firearm,one incident 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 281. There were 31 incidents of tobacco. For 175 incidents, students were suspended for one to two days.

Boy students received 331 suspensions, while 219 girls were suspended.

There were 53 elementary or middle school students, and 497 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 143. There were 72 incidents of violence without injury. For 87 incidents, students were suspended for three to four 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	8	72
Drug offenses	1	8
Firearm	0	2
Other dangerous weapons	0	1
Tobacco	31	3
Other reason	281	143
Total	321	229

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	0	3
1-2 days	175	30
2-3 days	100	69
3-4 days	42	87
4-10 days	4	40
More than 10 days	0	0