Illinois Valley Times

White students, constituting 13.9% or 14 of DePue High School's total student population of 101, accounted for three out of the 10 total suspensions (30%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per five students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, DePue High School's 82 Hispanic students, who make up 81.2% of the school population, received seven suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 12 Hispanic students, which is definitively lower than that of white students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 10 total suspensions at DePue High School in the 2021-22 school year, one was in-school suspension and nine out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, five student suspensions at DePue High School were for violence-related offenses.

The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying five cases - 50% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, DePue High School reported 31 students - equivalent to 30.2% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 34 students, or 33.3% 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	82	7	0.09
White	14	3	0.21