East Central Reporter

Hispanic students, constituting 5.2% or 36 of Richland County High School's total student population of 697, accounted for seven out of the 63 total suspensions (11.1%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per five students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Richland County High School's 622 white students, who make up 89.2% of the school population, received 56 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 11 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Hispanic students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 63 total suspensions at Richland County High School in the 2021-22 school year, all of them were out-of-school suspensions.

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

The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was tobacco offenses, tallying 19 cases - 30.2% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Richland County High School reported 166 students - equivalent to 23.8% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 163 students, or 23.4% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

Hispanic students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 45.9% of all students who were chronically truant, and 37.8% of the 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	36	7	0.19
White	622	56	0.09