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Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Report: At Joppa Junior & Senior High School, multiracial student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of white students

Webp jason helfer

Chief Education Officer Jason Helfer (2023) | Illinois State Board of education

Chief Education Officer Jason Helfer (2023) | Illinois State Board of education

Multiracial students, constituting 13.5% or 12 of Joppa Junior & Senior High School's total student population of 89, accounted for five out of the 23 total suspensions (21.7%) 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, Joppa Junior & Senior High School's 74 white students, who make up 83.1% of the school population, received 13 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per six white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 23 total suspensions at Joppa Junior & Senior High School in the 2021-22 school year, 16 were in-school suspensions and seven out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, one student suspension at Joppa Junior & Senior High School was for an offense including drugs.

During the 2021-22 school year, Joppa Junior & Senior High School reported 10 students - equivalent to 11.5% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 23 students, or 25.8% 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.

Joppa Junior & Senior High School Infractions by Multiracial Students Over 5 Years
0369121518212427303336392017-182018-192019-202020-212021-22Total InfractionsInfractions by multiracial students

Joppa Junior & Senior High School Infractions by Race in 2021-22 School Year
RaceNumber of StudentsTotal InfractionsInfractions Per Student
Multiracial1250.42
White74130.18

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