City West Journal

Orr Academy High School reported 78 suspensions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 78 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 32 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 two recorded cases. Additionally, two cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 46 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 32 incidents involved female students.

All 78 suspensions issued in the Orr Academy High School schools involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, with 18 cases reported. Additionally, 42 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, which made up 60.7% of the Orr Academy High School student body, were suspended the most in the school, with 66 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 36.9% of the student body, and received 10 suspensions.

Orr Academy High School is located in the Chicago Public School District 299, and has a main office in Chicago.

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.