Report: At Breese Elementary School, white student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of Hispanic students

IL Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders (2023) | Institute of Education Sciences

By South Central Reporter

Nov 27, 2023

White students, constituting 89.4% or 381 of Breese Elementary School's total student population of 426, accounted for 46 out of the 48 total suspensions (95.8%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per eight students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Breese Elementary School's 37 Hispanic students, who make up 8.7% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 37 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 48 total suspensions at Breese Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, 26 were in-school suspensions and 22 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 18 student suspensions at Breese Elementary School were for violence-related offenses and for an offense including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 18 cases - 37.5% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Breese Elementary School reported 14 students - equivalent to 3.2% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 34 students, or 8% 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.

Breese Elementary School Infractions by White Students Over 5 Years