Joliet West High School students suspended or expelled 1,692 times just in 2023-24 school year

Joliet West High School reported 1,684 suspensions and eight expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 1,692 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 51.4 incidents per 100 of the school's enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for five incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, an incident involving violence without physical injury, an incident involving drugs, and an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

The school reported that most in-school suspensions were given for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 76 recorded cases. There were also 47 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 1,125 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 1,070 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 622 incidents involved female students.

All 1,684 suspensions issued in the Joliet West High School schools involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 94 cases reported. Additionally, 166 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, which made up 47.7% of the Joliet West High School student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the school, with 714 suspensions and five expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Black students, who made up 20.9% of the student body, and received 703 suspensions and were expelled twice.

Joliet West High School is located in the Joliet Township High School District 204, and has a main office in Joliet.

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.