Manteno High School students suspended 198 times just in 2023-24 school year

Manteno High School reported 198 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 211 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 198 were suspensions representing a rate of approximately 36.1 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 school reported that most in-school suspensions were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 22 recorded cases. There were also 20 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 115 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 114 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 84 incidents involved female students.

All 198 suspensions issued in the Manteno High School schools involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 14 cases reported. Additionally, five cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, which made up 83.1% of the Manteno High School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 133 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 8.7% of the student body, and received 30 suspensions.

Manteno High School is located in the Manteno Community Unit School District 5, and has a main office in Manteno.

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.