East Central Reporter

Multiracial students, constituting 7.8% or 52 of Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School's total student population of 666, accounted for 15 out of the 97 total suspensions (15.5%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per three students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School's 512 white students, who make up 76.9% of the school population, received 77 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per seven white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students.

In contrast, Black students, who make up 8.9% of the student body at Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School, had the lowest suspension ratio with an average of roughly one suspension per 30 Black students, totaling two suspensions. This rate is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, establishing them as the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Hispanic students at Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School behaved worse than Blacks, but better than multiracials, with three suspensions for 35 students in the 2021-22 school year - an average of roughly one suspension per 12 Hispanic students.

Of the 97 total suspensions at Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, 70 were in-school suspensions and 27 out-of-school suspensions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School reported 181 students - equivalent to 27.2% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 233 students, or 35% 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 39.5% 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
Hispanic	35	3	0.09
Black	59	2	0.03
Multiracial	52	15	0.29
White	512	77	0.15