DeKalb Times

Black students, constituting 30.6% or 89 of Malta Elementary School's total student population of 291, accounted for 27 out of the 31 total suspensions (87.1%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per three students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Malta Elementary School's 140 white students, who make up 48.1% of the school population, received two suspensions. This translates to an average of one suspension per 70 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 31 total suspensions at Malta Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, 11 were in-school suspensions and 20 out-of-school suspensions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Malta Elementary School reported 37 students - equivalent to 12.7% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 88 students, or 30.3% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

Black students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 29.9% of all students who were chronically truant, and 41% of the chronically absent.

In a broader context, data from the ProPublica database indicates that Black students are suspended at a rate 4.6 times higher than white students in Illinois—surpassing the already high national average rate of 3.9 times.

However, districts’ officials deny a direct link between these statistics and race. Lisa Small, the Superintendent of District 211, argues that these numbers oversimplify the situation. “Decisions are highly individualized and based on the specific behavior and are not well-suited to a simple numerical analysis,” she wrote in a statement. “They are not a statistic to us, but a developing young adult.”

Illinois ranks 12th in the nation for the highest rate of suspensions among Black students relative to their white peers.

Race	Number of Students	Total Infractions	Infractions Per Student
Hispanic	39	1	0.03
Black	89	27	0.3
Multiracial	16	1	0.06
White	140	2	0.01