East Central Reporter

Multiracial students, constituting 3.1% or 14 of Richland County Middle School's total student population of 457, accounted for nine out of the 83 total suspensions (10.8%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per two students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Richland County Middle School's 416 white students, who make up 91% of the school population, received 68 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per six white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 83 total suspensions at Richland County Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 55 were in-school suspensions and 28 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, two student suspensions at Richland County Middle School were for offenses including drugs.

During the 2021-22 school year, Richland County Middle School reported 72 students - equivalent to 15.7% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 108 students, or 23.7% 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	16	4	0.25
Multiracial	14	9	0.64
White	416	68	0.16