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

Percy Julian Middle School Principal Mr. Jeremy Christian (2023) | Percy Julian Middle School

By West Cook News

Dec 19, 2023

Black students, constituting 17.5% or 162 of Percy Julian Middle School's total student population of 928, accounted for 30 out of the 52 total suspensions (57.7%) in the 2021-22 school year, averaging roughly one suspension per five students, according to the latest student discipline report by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During the same period, Percy Julian Middle School's 488 white students, who make up 52.6% of the school population, received 10 suspensions. This translates to an average of roughly one suspension per 49 white students, which is definitively lower than that of Black students, making them the best-behaved racial group in the school.

Of the 52 total suspensions at Percy Julian Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, 36 were in-school suspensions and 16 out-of-school suspensions.

During the 2021-22 school year, Percy Julian Middle School reported 43 students - equivalent to 4.6% of its student body - as chronically truant, meaning they had a repeated pattern of unexcused lateness or missing classes. In addition, 193 students, or 20.8% 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 11.8% of all students who were chronically truant, and 37.8% 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.

Percy Julian Middle School Infractions by Black Students Over 5 Years