Report: At Oakhill Elementary School, Black student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of Hispanic students

Oakhill Elementary School Principal Laura Alegria (2023) | Oakhill Elementary School

By North Cook News

Nov 26, 2023

Black students, constituting 5.6% or 22 of Oakhill Elementary School's total student population of 393, accounted for five out of the 11 total suspensions (45.5%) 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, Oakhill Elementary School's 302 Hispanic students, who make up 76.8% of the school population, received two suspensions. This translates to an average of one suspension per 151 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 11 total suspensions at Oakhill Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, six were in-school suspensions and five out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, two student suspensions at Oakhill Elementary School were for violence-related offenses.

During the 2021-22 school year, Oakhill Elementary School reported 55 students - equivalent to 13.9% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 101 students, or 25.6% 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 47.8% of all students who were chronically truant, and 60.9% of the 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.

Oakhill Elementary School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years