Chief Education Officer Jason Helfer (2023) | Illinois State Board of education
Chief Education Officer Jason Helfer (2023) | Illinois State Board of education
During the same period, White Oak Elementary's 128 Hispanic students, who make up 17.5% of the school population, received three suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 43 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 27 total suspensions at White Oak Elementary in the 2021-22 school year, five were in-school suspensions and 22 out-of-school suspensions.
According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 23 student suspensions at White Oak Elementary were for violence-related offenses.
The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 23 cases - 85.2% of the total infractions.
In addition, 171 students, or 23.4% 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 | 128 | 3 | 0.02 |
| White | 550 | 24 | 0.04 |
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