Quincy Reporter

Payson Community Unit School District 1 reported 104 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 104 students during the year. This equates to 22 percent of the 481 students enrolled.

Students were expelled for 12 incidents with violence that caused physical injury, 24 incidents with violence without physical injury, five incidents with alcohol and tobacco, one incident witha dangerous weapon firearm.

The district reported that most in-school suspensions were given for unspecified reasons, of which there were 49. There were 10 incidents of violence without injury. For 27 incidents, students were suspended for a day or less.

Boy students received 90 suspensions, while 14 girls were suspended.

There were 63 elementary or middle school students, and 41 high school students suspended in 2021-22 school year.

The district reported that most out-of-school suspensions were given for violence without injury, of which there were 14. There were 13 incidents of unspecified reasons. For 10 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	1	11
Violence without injury	10	14
Drug offenses	0	0
Firearm	1	0
Other dangerous weapons	0	0
Tobacco	4	1
Other reason	49	13
Total	65	39

	In-school Suspension	Out-of-school Suspension
One day or less	27	6
1-2 days	26	10
2-3 days	5	8
3-4 days	6	8
4-10 days	1	6
More than 10 days	0	1