Plainfield High School students suspended or expelled 520 times just in 2023-24 school year

Plainfield High School reported 519 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 533 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 520 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 28.1 incidents per 100 of the school's enrolled students. There were an additional 13 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsion was issued for an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

The school reported that most in-school suspensions were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 21 recorded cases. There were also 16 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 401 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

Only female students were subject to disciplinary actions, a rate of approximately 16.2 incidents per 100 female students.

All 519 suspensions issued in the Plainfield High School schools involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving drugs, with 15 cases reported. Additionally, 35 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic students, which made up 29.9% of the Plainfield High School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 170 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 49.8% of the student body, and received 154 suspensions.

Plainfield High School is located in the Plainfield School District 202, and has a main office in Plainfield.

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.