Galesburg Reporter

Multiracial students, constituting 5% or 12 of United West Elementary School's total student population of 240, accounted for two out of the 13 total suspensions (15.4%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging one suspension per six students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, United West Elementary School's 212 white students, who make up 88.3% of the school population, received 11 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 19 white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 13 total suspensions at United West Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, 11 were in-school suspensions and two out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, nine student suspensions at United West Elementary School were for violence-related offenses.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying nine cases - 69.2% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, United West Elementary School reported 19 students - equivalent to 7.9% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 69 students, or 28.9% 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
Multiracial	12	2	0.17
White	212	11	0.05