Kankakee Times

Multiracial students, constituting 4.9% or 17 of Milford Grade School West Campus's total student population of 347, accounted for four out of the 26 total suspensions (15.4%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per four students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Milford Grade School West Campus' 301 white students, who make up 86.7% of the school population, received 18 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 17 white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 26 total suspensions at Milford Grade School West Campus in the 2021-22 school year, 12 were in-school suspensions and 14 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 11 student suspensions at Milford Grade School West Campus were for violence-related offenses and for an offense including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 11 cases - 42.3% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Milford Grade School West Campus reported 19 students - equivalent to 5.5% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 55 students, or 15.8% 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.

Race	Number of Students	Total Infractions	Infractions Per Student
Hispanic	19	3	0.16
Multiracial	17	4	0.24
White	301	18	0.06