McHenry Times

Multiracial students, constituting 3.2% or 10 of Marengo Community Middle School's total student population of 315, accounted for five out of the 31 total suspensions (16.1%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging one suspension per two students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Marengo Community Middle School's 217 white students, who make up 68.9% of the school population, received 20 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 11 white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students.

In contrast, Hispanic students, who make up 25.1% of the student body at Marengo Community Middle School, had the lowest suspension ratio with an average of roughly one suspension per 13 Hispanic students, totaling six suspensions. This rate is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, establishing them as the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 31 total suspensions at Marengo Community Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 13 were in-school suspensions and 18 out-of-school suspensions.

According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, four student suspensions at Marengo Community Middle School were for violence-related offenses and for an offense including drugs.

The most common infraction causing suspension, however, was tobacco offenses, tallying 11 cases - 35.5% of the total infractions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Marengo Community Middle School reported 35 students - equivalent to 11% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 70 students, or 22.1% 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	79	6	0.08
Multiracial	10	5	0.5
White	217	20	0.09