Oak Grove School Principal Mary Jo Sarff (2023) | Oak Grove School
Oak Grove School Principal Mary Jo Sarff (2023) | Oak Grove School
During the same period, Oak Grove School's 232 white students, who make up 88.2% of the school population, received five suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 46 white students, which is definitively lower than that of multiracial students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.
Of the 14 total suspensions at Oak Grove School in the 2021-22 school year, one was in-school suspension and 13 out-of-school suspensions.
According to the report, in the 2021-22 school year, eight student suspensions at Oak Grove School were for violence-related offenses.
The most common infraction causing suspension was violence offenses, tallying eight cases - 57.1% of the total infractions.
In addition, 54 students, or 20.4% 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.
| Race | Number of Students | Total Infractions | Infractions Per Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 11 | 2 | 0.18 |
| Multiracial | 17 | 7 | 0.41 |
| White | 232 | 5 | 0.02 |
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