Galesburg Reporter

Multiracial students, constituting 6.2% or 10 of West Central Middle School's total student population of 161, accounted for 12 out of the 151 total suspensions (7.9%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly 1.2 suspensions per student, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, West Central Middle School's 143 white students, who make up 88.8% of the school population, received 130 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per student, which is lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 151 total suspensions at West Central Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 56 were in-school suspensions and 95 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 12 student suspensions at West Central Middle School were for violence-related offenses.

During the 2021-22 school year, West Central Middle School reported 23 students - equivalent to 14.1% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 43 students, or 26.9% 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	10	12	1.2
White	143	130	0.91