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

Hoffman Elementary School Principal Mrs. Selene Stewart (2023) | Hoffman Elementary School

By North Cook News

Dec 18, 2023

Hispanic students, constituting 15% or 73 of Hoffman Elementary School's total student population of 488, accounted for four out of the five total suspensions (80%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per 18 students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Hoffman Elementary School's 284 white students, who make up 58.2% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 284 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Hispanic students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the five total suspensions at Hoffman 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 Hoffman Elementary School was for a violence-related offense.

The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was other weapon offenses, tallying two cases - 40% of the total infractions.

In addition, 43 students, or 8.8% of the student population, fell into the chronically absent category, a broader measure that includes all absences, excused or not.

Hispanic students were notably overrepresented in these statistics, comprising 20.4% of all students who were 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.

Hoffman Elementary School Infractions by Hispanic Students Over 5 Years