In 2015, the Malden R-I district issued 227 suspensions to students in kindergarten through third grade.

Black students make up 32.4 percent of its K-3 population. White students make up 67.6 percent.

Those suspensions went to both black and white students, and all were served in school.

Here’s the breakdown of the district's suspensions from last year:

It gave 137 — or 60.4 percent — of its suspensions to black students. White students received 90 — or 39.6 percent of these suspensions.

That works out to a rate of more than one suspension for every black student enrolled and about one suspension for every two white students.

Crave even more context?

In Missouri, during the 2014-15 school year, students in kindergarten through third grade were suspended 21,463 times.

Black students make up about 17 percent of students in those grades. If they were given suspensions at a rate equal to their enrollment, they'd have received 3,574. Instead, they got 11,079 — more than half of all suspensions.

Still want to learn more? Look up another district or listen to the podcast.