South Central Reporter

Hispanic students, constituting 3.6% or 22 of Central Community High School's total student population of 616, accounted for 12 out of the 89 total suspensions (13.5%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per two students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Central Community High School's 592 white students, who make up 96.1% of the school population, received 67 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per nine white students, which is definitively lower than that of Hispanic students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 89 total suspensions at Central Community High School in the 2021-22 school year, 82 were in-school suspensions and seven out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, four student suspensions at Central Community High School were for offenses including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was tobacco offenses, tallying 19 cases - 21.3% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Central Community High School reported 39 students - equivalent to 6.4% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 73 students, or 11.9% 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
Hispanic	22	12	0.55
White	592	67	0.11