L.J. Stevens Intermediate School students suspended 15 times in 2023-24 school year

L.J. Stevens Intermediate School reported 15 suspensions during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 15 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 4.3 incidents per 100 of the school's enrolled students.

The school reported that all in-school suspensions were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with three recorded cases. Additionally, four cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 10 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another five incidents involved female students.

All 15 suspensions issued in the L.J. Stevens Intermediate School schools involved elementary or middle school students.

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

In terms of ethnicity, white students, which made up 83.1% of the L.J. Stevens Intermediate School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 13 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 3.7% of the student body, and received two suspensions.

L.J. Stevens Intermediate School is located in the Wilmington Community Unit School District 209U, and has a main office in Wilmington.

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.