DeKalb Times

White students, constituting 67.9% or 180 of West Elementary School's total student population of 265, accounted for 18 out of the 20 total suspensions (90%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging one suspension per 10 students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, West Elementary School's 54 Hispanic students, who make up 20.4% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 54 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 20 total suspensions at West Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, four were in-school suspensions and 16 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, one student suspension at West Elementary School was for a violence-related offense.

In addition, 50 students, or 19% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

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	54	1	0.02
Black	16	1	0.06
White	180	18	0.1