Chambana Sun

Black students, constituting 12.9% or 66 of International Prep Academy's total student population of 510, accounted for 15 out of the 20 total suspensions (75%) 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, International Prep Academy's 320 Hispanic students, who make up 62.7% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 320 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 20 total suspensions at International Prep Academy in the 2021-22 school year, two were in-school suspensions and 18 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, 11 student suspensions at International Prep Academy were for violence-related offenses.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying 11 cases - 55% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, International Prep Academy reported 130 students - equivalent to 25.4% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 212 students, or 41.6% 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	320	1	0
Black	66	15	0.23
Multiracial	29	3	0.1