Discipline at Northwood Middle School: Black students most affected in 2021-22 school year

Chair of the Board Dr. Steven Isoye (2023) | Illinois State Board of education

By McHenry Times

Nov 26, 2023

Black students, constituting 4.2% or 27 of Northwood Middle School's total student population of 638, accounted for 12 out of the 41 total suspensions (29.3%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per two students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Northwood Middle School's 384 white students, who make up 60.2% of the school population, received 11 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 35 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 41 total suspensions at Northwood Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 30 were in-school suspensions and 11 out-of-school suspensions. Instead of opting for traditional suspensions or expulsions for some cases, the school administration decided to relocate one student to alternative educational settings.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, six student suspensions at Northwood Middle School were for violence-related offenses.

During the 2021-22 school year, Northwood Middle School reported 13 students - equivalent to 2.1% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 111 students, or 17.4% 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.

Northwood Middle School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years