Local school districts including LTHS, D102 (La Grange Park-Brookfield), D105 (La Grange), and D101 (Western Springs) would be required to expel students who initiate sexual violence for at least one year if a bill that cleared the Illinois Senate on Thursday becomes law.
Senate Bill 939 passed 48-3 on May 8, with bipartisan support. Sponsored by state Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, the measure mandates a minimum one-year expulsion for students who initiate sexual assault at school, on school buses, or at school-sponsored events. Students who initiate nonconsensual sexual acts, a lesser category under the bill, would face at least six months.
The bill represents a sharp departure from current Illinois law, which explicitly prohibits zero-tolerance expulsion policies. Under existing statute, schools may only expel students after exhausting other interventions and determining case-by-case that a student's presence threatens safety or substantially disrupts operations.
That discretion is what SB 939 targets.
"We can't have some schools taking this thing seriously and then other schools sweeping them under the rug," said Ashley Peden, whose 10-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by an eighth-grader on a Taylorville school bus in 2023. "School is supposed to be a safe place. It shouldn't be causing trauma."
In Peden's case, the school district did not initially suspend or expel the boy despite his admission to police. The district's safety plan only shifted his class and bus schedules. Three weeks later, he was placed in an alternative school. A year after that, the school asked Peden whether her daughter would switch buses so the boy could return. He was ultimately convicted of four felonies and placed on the juvenile sex offender registry.
The bill is modeled after existing Illinois law that mandates one-year expulsions for students who bring weapons to school.
At Lyons Township High School, expulsion is currently handled at administrators' discretion under Board Policy 7:190. In a prior school year, Superintendent Brian Waterman publicly stated the district's goal was to "eliminate suspensions," with suspension-level offenses limited to fighting, drugs, and weapons. No La Grange-area district has commented publicly on how SB 939 would affect local policy.
The bill now moves to the Illinois House, where Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville, sponsored a similar measure that stalled earlier this spring. No committee hearing date has been announced.
