Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U students suspended 126 times just in 2023-24 school year

Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U reported 126 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 126 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 9.5 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 tobacco, with 11 recorded cases. There were also three incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 67 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 107 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 19 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 71 involved elementary or middle school students, while 55 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 11 cases reported. Additionally, 25 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 83.1% of the Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 92 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 12.5% of the student body, and received 24 suspensions.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school 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.