Grundy Reporter

Black students, constituting 3.5% or 12 of Shabbona Middle School's total student population of 344, accounted for three out of the 28 total suspensions (10.7%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging one suspension per four students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Shabbona Middle School's 242 white students, who make up 70.3% of the school population, received 19 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 13 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students.

In contrast, Hispanic students, who make up 22.7% of the student body at Shabbona Middle School, had the lowest suspension ratio with an average of roughly one suspension per 16 Hispanic students, totaling five suspensions. This rate is definitively lower than that of Black students, establishing them as the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 28 total suspensions at Shabbona Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, seven were in-school suspensions and 21 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 10 student suspensions at Shabbona Middle School were for violence-related offenses.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 10 cases - 35.7% of the total infractions.

In addition, 83 students, or 24% 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	78	5	0.06
Black	12	3	0.25
White	242	19	0.08