Report: At Still Middle School, Black student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of Asian students

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

By DuPage Policy Journal

Dec 20, 2023

Black students, constituting 10.6% or 79 of Still Middle School's total student population of 748, accounted for 50 out of the 144 total suspensions (34.7%) 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, Still Middle School's 267 Asian students, who make up 35.7% of the school population, received seven suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 38 Asian students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 144 total suspensions at Still Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 118 were in-school suspensions and 26 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 80 student suspensions at Still Middle School were for violence-related offenses and for an offense including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 80 cases - 55.6% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Still Middle School reported 13 students - equivalent to 1.7% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 96 students, or 12.8% 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 28.6% 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.

Still Middle School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years