West Central Reporter

White students, constituting 27.1% or 124 of Gard Elementary School's total student population of 457, accounted for six out of the 10 total suspensions (60%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per 21 students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Gard Elementary School's 208 Hispanic students, who make up 45.5% of the school population, received three suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 69 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 10 total suspensions at Gard Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, five were in-school suspensions and five out-of-school suspensions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Gard Elementary School reported 43 students - equivalent to 9.5% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 106 students, or 23.3% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

White students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 25.5% 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	208	3	0.01
Black	55	1	0.02
White	124	6	0.05