The number of out-of-school suspensions across Indian Prairie School District 204 is continuing to trend downward, this past year dipping to below 1% of the student population.
But despite the gains overall, Indian Prairie students who are black/African American continue receive a disproportional number of out-of-school suspensions, or OSS, compared to other racial groups.
The three assistant superintendents for the elementary, middle and high schools gave the school board Monday their annual report on student behavior and interventions.
Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Laura Devine-Johnston said District 204 students receive out-of-school suspensions for two reasons: they’ve done something that causes a threat to school safety or created a significant disruption to other students’ learning opportunities.
“We continue to work with buildings and ensure that those are the reasons that students are out-of-school suspended,” she said.
Because district leaders maintain it’s more important for students to be in school rather than out, the school board established a goal for the district to reduce the number of students receiving out-of-school suspension to at or below 1%.
With district enrollment at 27,520 in the 2018-19 school year, the report shows 266 students received an OSS, which amounts to 0.9% of the student population.
“We did meet that goal,” Devine-Johnston said, adding that about 5 percent of students receive OSS nationally.
The number of students with an OSS has been declining over the last six years.
In 2013, 724 students – 38 elementary, 174 middle school and 512 high school – spent time outside of class as a result of suspensions.
This past school year, 21 elementary students, 70 middle school students and 175 high school students received an OSS because of infractions.
The main reason students in elementary school receive a suspension is because of physical aggression — typically pushing someone or throwing something, Devine-Johnston said. “In elementary school, physical aggression really looks more like a lack of self-regulation,” rather than a fight, she said.
Assistant Superintendent for Middle Schools Brad Hillman said middle school students receive an OSS because of physical aggression, gross insubordination and reckless conduct in which there could be an injury or an elevated disruption is probable.
Louis Lee, assistant superintendent for high schools, said the reasons for a high school OSS are similar to middle school — physical aggression and gross insubordination. Other reasons include drugs, disorderly conduct and disruption to education process.
The biggest OSS disparity in continues to be with students who are black/African American, who make up 9% of the District 204 student population but account for roughly a third of district-wide suspensions.
By comparison, students who are white make up 44% of the district’s student population but receive 36% of the suspensions. Students who are Asian receive only 6% of suspensions though they account for a third of the district enrollment.
The gap was most significant at the middle school level where 41% of the 70 out-of-school suspensions were given to students who are black/African American vs. 29% for white stuents.
Figures show 29% of the suspensions meted out in the high schools are given to students who are black/African American. White students account for 39%.
Among elementary students, 33% of the suspensions are given to children who are black/African American and another third are given to white students.
The administrators said they will continue to work with building principals, teachers and staff to ensure implicit bias is not involved in any disciplinary actions.