Dupage Policy Journal

Black students, constituting 11.8% or 122 of Francis Granger Middle School's total student population of 1,034, accounted for 63 out of the 109 total suspensions (57.8%) 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, Francis Granger Middle School's 451 Asian students, who make up 43.6% of the school population, received six suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 75 Asian students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 109 total suspensions at Francis Granger Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 74 were in-school suspensions and 35 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 61 student suspensions at Francis Granger Middle School were for violence-related offenses.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 61 cases - 56% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Francis Granger Middle School reported 49 students - equivalent to 4.7% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 138 students, or 13.3% 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 16.3% of all students who were chronically truant, and 25% 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.

Race	Number of Students	Total Infractions	Infractions Per Student
Hispanic	128	8	0.06
Black	122	63	0.52
Asian	451	6	0.01
Multiracial	54	12	0.22
White	276	19	0.07