School officials in some Illinois schools have been referring students who cause mischief to police, resulting in them ticketing the students for a large range of different things. These can include fighting, littering, theft, possession of vaping devices, and so on. 

   One thing Guilford students may not know is that the school enforces these policies to a certain degree. They do not give fines for simple behavioral issues, like disrupting the class, but they do enforce ticketing if students are caught with possession of marajuana or other drugs and vandalizing property, along with some other things.

   “If a student is found in possession of marajuana, the school police officer will give them a citation because of the Illinois law,” said Mr. Amish Shah, assistant principal for the freshman academy.

   There is a new bill in the Illinois House that would make ticketing students as a form of discipline illegal, but this bill is not intended to restrict police from arresting students for crimes.

   Many districts are enforcing these ticketing violations, which causes families to pay a fine, often for minor misbehavioral issues, and these can reach up to $750.

   “I would hate to have to pay hundreds of dollars for something that I can just go to detention for for an hour,” said Jaxon Page, junior.

   A Chicago Tribune article by Jodi Cohen said that 12,000 tickets were written to students over three school years in Illinois, and black students were twice as likely to be ticketed as white students.

   The recently introduced legislation would make it illegal for the school officials to involve the police when it comes to incidents that could be addressed very easily with the school disciplinary processes.

   This new legislation will deal only with school tickets, which are given for violations of local laws and are judged by administrative hearings.

   It would not make it illegal for schools to involve students in restoring stolen or damaged property.

   “I get that the police should be involved with certain issues like stealing and stuff, but if someone skips class they shouldn’t have to pay that much money,” said Makenna Lauri, freshman. “I feel like they’re making too big of a deal out of it.”