GALESBURG, Illinois-- A new Illinois law has limited long-term suspensions and expulsions for students, calling an end to the Zero Tolerance policy used in the past.
Under the new law, Illinois schools are required to use counseling and after school programs first, using out of school suspensions and expulsions as a last resort.
The law was passed in 2015 and put into effect last week.
Schools in the Galesburg School District have already been implementing these policies for some time now.
"We all want kids to be successful so essentially [eliminating the zero tolerance policy] just hey you need to have a series of steps in place before you ultimately get to that point but 99 percent of the educators out there don't want to ever see a kid get to that point," says Nick Sutton, principal of Lombard Middle School in Galesburg.