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, Zadok Casey Middle School's 208 white students, who make up 48.9% of the school population, received 13 suspensions. This translates to an average of one suspension per 16 white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 50 total suspensions at Zadok Casey Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 18 were in-school suspensions and 32 out-of-school suspensions.
According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, two student suspensions at Zadok Casey Middle School were for offenses including drugs.
The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was firearm weapon offenses, tallying 11 cases - 22% of the total infractions.
During the 2021-22 school year, Zadok Casey Middle School reported 85 students - equivalent to 20% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 123 students, or 29% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.
Multiracial students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 30.4% of all students who were chronically absent.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 139 | 22 | 0.16 |
| Multiracial | 62 | 15 | 0.24 |
| White | 208 | 13 | 0.06 |
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