Report: At Coal City High School, white student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of Hispanic students

Coal City High School Principal Mr. Arthur Stafford (2023) | Coal City High School

By Grundy Reporter

Nov 26, 2023

White students, constituting 88.1% or 526 of Coal City High School's total student population of 597, accounted for 52 out of the 55 total suspensions (94.5%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per 10 students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Coal City High School's 56 Hispanic students, who make up 9.4% of the school population, received two suspensions. This translates to an average of one suspension per 28 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 55 total suspensions at Coal City High School in the 2021-22 school year, 41 were in-school suspensions and 14 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, two student suspensions at Coal City High School were for violence-related offenses and four for those including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was tobacco offenses, tallying 22 cases - 40% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Coal City High School reported 56 students - equivalent to 9.4% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 97 students, or 16.2% 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.

Coal City High School Infractions by White Students Over 4 Years