Liberty Junior High School Report: Suspensions in Burbank School District 111 totaled 144 just in 2023-24 school year
In total, there were 148 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 144 were suspensions representing a rate of approximately 13.3 incidents per 100 of the school's enrolled students. There were an additional four cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.
The school reported that all in-school suspensions were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.
There were 109 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 35 incidents involved female students.
All 144 suspensions issued in the Liberty Junior High School schools involved elementary or middle school students.
In terms of ethnicity, white students, which made up 30.5% of the Liberty Junior High School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 72 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 61.1% of the student body, and received 49 suspensions.
Liberty Junior High School is located in the Burbank School District 111, and has a main office in Burbank.
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.
| Type of Incident | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | - | - |
| Violence with injury | - | - |
| Violence without injury | - | - |
| Drug offenses | - | - |
| Firearm | - | - |
| Other dangerous weapons | - | - |
| Tobacco | - | - |
| Other reason | 3 | 141 |
| Total | 3 | 141 |
| Duration | In-School Suspension | Out-of-School Suspension |
|---|---|---|
| One day or less | - | - |
| 1-2 days | 2 | 27 |
| 2-3 days | - | 39 |
| 3-4 days | - | 61 |
| 4-10 days | - | 14 |
| More than 10 days | 1 | - |