Report: At Lewis School, Black student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of white students

Vice Chair of the Board Dr. Donna S. Leak (2023) | Illinois State Board of education

By Carbondale Reporter

Nov 29, 2023

Black students, constituting 52.5% or 155 of Lewis School's total student population of 295, accounted for 67 out of the 75 total suspensions (89.3%) 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, Lewis School's 71 white students, who make up 24.1% of the school population, received four suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 18 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 75 total suspensions at Lewis School in the 2021-22 school year, 18 were in-school suspensions and 57 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, one student suspension at Lewis School was for a violence-related offense.

During the 2021-22 school year, Lewis School reported 85 students - equivalent to 28.9% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 155 students, or 52.7% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

Black students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 37.9% of all students who were chronically truant, and 54.9% of the 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.

Lewis School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years