Student expelled from Du Quoin High School

A high school student has been expelled from Du Quoin High School for a year over an incident at the school a few weeks ago, Superintendent Matt Hickam has confirmed.

The student, a boy under 18, is being officially expelled because he has chosen not to attend the alternative high school offered by the regional superintendent's office, Hickam said.

Hickam declined to discuss the specific incident but said police were called to the high school. No student or staff member was harmed in the incident, he added.

He added that expulsion is rare in Unit District 300, and said that when the school district needs to take significant disciplinary action most students take advantage of the regional superintendent office's alternative program, thereby avoiding expulsion.

"However, if they don't cooperate or refuse to go," then expulsion is the only recourse, Hickam said.

He thinks this is District 300's first expulsion in around nine years.

Expulsion by definition is when a student is kept out of school for 11 days or more. Ten days or fewer is considered a suspension.

For a school board to impose expulsion, "you have to have a scenario where (the student's) presence would be detrimental or disruptive," Hickam said, or pose a threat to school safety.

And while this student cannot return to Du Quoin High School before March 6, 2021, if he changes his mind about attending the alternative school the District 300 board has the authority to allow that, Hickam said.