Report: At John A. Renfro Elementary School, Black student rule-breaking rate notably exceeds that of white students

IL Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders (2023) | Institute of Education Sciences

By Metro East Sun

Dec 18, 2023

Black students, constituting 24.8% or 128 of John A. Renfro Elementary School's total student population of 517, accounted for six out of the eight total suspensions (75%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per 21 students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, John A. Renfro Elementary School's 293 white students, who make up 56.7% of the school population, received one suspension. This translates to an average of one suspension per 293 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the eight total suspensions at John A. Renfro Elementary School in the 2021-22 school year, one was in-school suspension and seven out-of-school suspensions.

During the 2021-22 school year, John A. Renfro Elementary School reported 25 students - equivalent to 4.9% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 93 students, or 17.9% 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 11.3% of all students who were chronically truant, and 25.5% 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.

John A. Renfro Elementary School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years