Vice Chair of the Board Dr. Donna S. Leak (2023) | Illinois State Board of education
Vice Chair of the Board Dr. Donna S. Leak (2023) | Illinois State Board of education
During the same period, Meridian Junior High School's 48 Hispanic students, who make up 15% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 48 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 32 total suspensions at Meridian Junior High School in the 2021-22 school year, 21 were in-school suspensions and 11 out-of-school suspensions.
According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, seven student suspensions at Meridian Junior High School were for violence-related offenses.
The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying seven cases - 21.9% of the total infractions.
During the 2021-22 school year, Meridian Junior High School reported 21 students - equivalent to 6.7% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 50 students, or 15.8% 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 | 48 | 1 | 0.02 |
| White | 254 | 31 | 0.12 |
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