Students suspended 29 times in 2023-24 school year in Shabbona Middle School

Shabbona Middle School reported 29 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 29 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 8.6 incidents per 100 of the school's enrolled students.

The school reported that all in-school suspension was given for incident involving violence without physical injury. Additionally, 19 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 25 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another four incidents involved female students.

All 29 suspensions issued in the Shabbona Middle School schools involved elementary or middle school students.

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

In terms of ethnicity, white students, which made up 71.2% of the Shabbona Middle School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 21 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year.

Shabbona Middle School is located in the Morris School District 54, and has a main office in Morris.

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.