Southern Illinois News

Black students, constituting 9.6% or 16 of Egyptian Elementary School's total student population of 166, accounted for five out of the 51 total suspensions (9.8%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per three students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Egyptian Elementary School's 128 white students, who make up 77.1% of the school population, received 37 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per three white students, which, while appearing the same, is marginally lower than that of Black students when comparing raw counts.

In contrast, multiracial students, who make up 13.3% of the student body at Egyptian Elementary School, had the lowest suspension ratio with an average of roughly one suspension per four multiracial students, totaling six suspensions. This rate is lower than that of Black students, establishing them as the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 51 total suspensions at Egyptian Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, all of them were in-school suspensions.

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

During the 2021-22 school year, Egyptian Elementary School reported 17 students - equivalent to 10.1% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 29 students, or 17.7% 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
Black	16	5	0.31
Multiracial	22	6	0.27
White	128	37	0.29