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, Barack H. Obama Learning Academy's 59 Hispanic students, who make up 13.3% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 59 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 127 total suspensions at Barack H. Obama Learning Academy in the 2021-22 school year, 68 were in-school suspensions and 59 out-of-school suspensions.
During the 2021-22 school year, Barack H. Obama Learning Academy reported 327 students - equivalent to 74% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 220 students, or 49.8% 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 | 59 | 1 | 0.02 |
| Black | 376 | 124 | 0.33 |
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