Steven Isoye State Board of Education Chairperson | Official Website
Steven Isoye State Board of Education Chairperson | Official Website
During the same period, Rich Central Campus High School's 248 Hispanic students, who make up 9.9% of the school population, received 12 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 21 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 361 total suspensions at Rich Central Campus High School in the 2021-22 school year, 33 were in-school suspensions and 328 out-of-school suspensions. In addition to suspensions, one student was expelled from the school. In addition to suspensions, one student was expelled from the school. Instead of opting for traditional suspensions or expulsions for some cases, the school administration decided to relocate one student to alternative educational settings.
According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 196 student suspensions at Rich Central Campus High School were for violence-related offenses and 14 for those including drugs.
The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 196 cases - 54.3% of the total infractions.
During the 2021-22 school year, Rich Central Campus High School reported 1,617 students - equivalent to 64.6% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 1,657 students, or 66.2% 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.
| Race | Number of Students | Total Infractions | Infractions Per Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hispanic | 248 | 12 | 0.05 |
| Black | 2,096 | 340 | 0.16 |
| Multiracial | 112 | 9 | 0.08 |
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