D94 board approves superintendent goals that include racial disproportionality metric after extended debate

The Community High School District 94 Board of Education on Tuesday approved the superintendent’s goals and metrics for the 2025–26 school year, including a metric to track racial disproportionality in out-of-school suspensions, after an extended discussion about the metric’s validity and role in evaluation. The vote carried after a roll call that recorded both yes and no votes among board members. Why it matters: Board members said the metric would provide a data point to monitor equity and inform interventions; some members warned the statewide ranking is based on incomplete reporting and cautioned against overinterpreting the numbers. The board’s decision means the district will track and report the discipline-rate gap as part of the superintendent’s public-facing metrics and use the results to inform follow-up actions. Board discussion focused on three issues: the source and calculation of the metric, whether the statewide ranking is reliable, and whether the metric should be included in the superintendent’s formal evaluation. Superintendent Joel Hansen said the discipline rates reported to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) are calculated by dividing the number of uniquely disciplined students in a demographic group by that group’s enrollment and comparing the resulting rates; he said the metric can be used to ‘‘dive deeper’’ into which students are affected and why. Several board members said ISBE’s published ranking is skewed because not every district submitted data and reporting practices differed; others said the district’s own reported counts show Black and Hispanic students were disciplined at higher rates and that the district should be transparent about that. The board and superintendent discussed how the metric pairs with other strategic-plan measures — including chronic absenteeism and student participation — and emphasized that discipline data should prompt deeper case-level review rather than assigning blame. Outcome: The board voted to approve the superintendent goals and metrics as presented, including the disproportionality metric. The roll call recorded multiple yes and no votes; the motion carried. Next steps: The administration will report the metric annually as part of the public metrics and will continue to monitor and, if the board requests, include the metric in the superintendent evaluation package for future review.