Restorative Justice is struggling to show success in MCPS according to students, parents

[Anonymous]

https://moco360.media/2023/02/28/mcps-students-data-suggest-failing-grade-for-restorative-justice-practices/

Montgomery County Public Schools is in the middle of formally assessing the success of its social justice-inspired approach to conflict resolution in cases of school bullying, violence and hate bias using state-provided metrics.

Data indicates that MCPS efforts to adopt a restorative justice model may not have been effective, while students and parents question the success of its approach to conflict resolution.

The school district describes restorative justice as “an approach to building community, self-care, and conflict resolution.” The approach was first adopted in 2019 after the state passed regulations requiring schools to employ more trauma-informed practices. Within this model, principals can request a member of the central office restorative justice team to be deployed to schools as incidents arise

[Anonymous]

Shocker.


There's no substitute for actual justice.

[Anonymous]

All teachers know this. It’s a disaster. Restorative justice is supposed to be a piece of the puzzle. MCPS has tried to make it the sole solution for all discipline issues which is not how it is supposed to be used. Actions are supposed to have consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All teachers know this. It’s a disaster. Restorative justice is supposed to be a piece of the puzzle. MCPS has tried to make it the sole solution for all discipline issues which is not how it is supposed to be used. Actions are supposed to have consequences.

So who gets to be held accountable for this massive blunder within MCPS's leadership? Was RJ Monifa's big bet? I don't think so since it was being implemented before she was appointed, no?

[Anonymous]

I think that the timing was a real problem here. It was adopted in 2019 and I believe it was not a full rollout. Then we had COVID and as we all know, kids did not return to schools well. Behaviors were at an all time high and kids forgot how to behave in school. So here are these different kids and at the same time we are implementing a new system. I’m assuming it also impacted the amount of teacher training. Finally, this idea takes a lot of human support and upon returning to the buildings, there were more openings than ever, no substitutes, people being pulled right and left- so nobody to implement the plan.

So all these things collided and caused a disaster in schools.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't seem to be going any better at FCPS. My child's elementary school really pushed for it for a bullying situation in lieu of actually doing anything. The RJ mediator met with the students and opted not to go forward with the process. So, the thing that the school was relying on isn't going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All teachers know this. It’s a disaster. Restorative justice is supposed to be a piece of the puzzle. MCPS has tried to make it the sole solution for all discipline issues which is not how it is supposed to be used. Actions are supposed to have consequences.

So who gets to be held accountable for this massive blunder within MCPS's leadership? Was RJ Monifa's big bet? I don't think so since it was being implemented before she was appointed, no?

No. Restorative Justice was implemented way before McKnight took charge.

Nobody will be held accountable because there is no oversight of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem to be going any better at FCPS. My child's elementary school really pushed for it for a bullying situation in lieu of actually doing anything. The RJ mediator met with the students and opted not to go forward with the process. So, the thing that the school was relying on isn't going to happen.

Restorative Justice was implemented as a 'progressive' ideal. It was implemented in schools without any DATA supporting its use.

Now that we have data showing that it isn't working, will MCPS and FCPS get rid of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem to be going any better at FCPS. My child's elementary school really pushed for it for a bullying situation in lieu of actually doing anything. The RJ mediator met with the students and opted not to go forward with the process. So, the thing that the school was relying on isn't going to happen.

What a mess. It's almost as if theoretical ideas can meet failure when taken out of the abstract thought exercises and places in real-world dynamic and complex scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that the timing was a real problem here. It was adopted in 2019 and I believe it was not a full rollout. Then we had COVID and as we all know, kids did not return to schools well. Behaviors were at an all time high and kids forgot how to behave in school. So here are these different kids and at the same time we are implementing a new system. I’m assuming it also impacted the amount of teacher training. Finally, this idea takes a lot of human support and upon returning to the buildings, there were more openings than ever, no substitutes, people being pulled right and left- so nobody to implement the plan.

So all these things collided and caused a disaster in schools.

Oh sure, that's it. It's not that it's a stupid, useless tactic. It's all in bad timing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem to be going any better at FCPS. My child's elementary school really pushed for it for a bullying situation in lieu of actually doing anything. The RJ mediator met with the students and opted not to go forward with the process. So, the thing that the school was relying on isn't going to happen.

RJ can work for ES better, but not older kids.

Do these adults really think that teens want to bare their souls to their perpetrators. FFS. do they know any teens.

It's clear that it's not working. Read through the article..

At the time of the presentation, 87 of the 210 MCPS schools had submitted data for the evaluation. Of those, only 3.4% were found to have a mature approach to restorative justice, meaning they have “proactive measures in place with significant effectiveness.”

Terrible. And the story of the WW teen.. horrible that she had to sit through that. This is why teens don't want to participate in RJ. I don't blame them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem to be going any better at FCPS. My child's elementary school really pushed for it for a bullying situation in lieu of actually doing anything. The RJ mediator met with the students and opted not to go forward with the process. So, the thing that the school was relying on isn't going to happen.

Restorative Justice was implemented as a 'progressive' ideal. It was implemented in schools without any DATA supporting its use.

Now that we have data showing that it isn't working, will MCPS and FCPS get rid of it?

Of course not. They'll just rebrand it as something else. God forbid we actually have discipline and accountability in the schools.

[Anonymous]

True RJ takes a ton of work and requires “community” involvement. The reality is that it can’t be used a quick fix. Kids need a lot of time for the consequences of their actions to sink in, be held accountable, and then try to repair the damage. None of this is really practical in a school. More of an idealistic village style council that families buy into so that the consequences and thinking don’t only stay at school but extend to the home and community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True RJ takes a ton of work and requires “community” involvement. The reality is that it can’t be used a quick fix. Kids need a lot of time for the consequences of their actions to sink in, be held accountable, and then try to repair the damage. None of this is really practical in a school. More of an idealistic village style council that families buy into so that the consequences and thinking don’t only stay at school but extend to the home and community.

What on earth made anyone think this was an appropriate discipline model for the school system to take on? Even if you bought into it, the school is only one slice of "the village" that supports a child's wellbeing. This was a poorly thought out idea from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All teachers know this. It’s a disaster. Restorative justice is supposed to be a piece of the puzzle. MCPS has tried to make it the sole solution for all discipline issues which is not how it is supposed to be used. Actions are supposed to have consequences.

So who gets to be held accountable for this massive blunder within MCPS's leadership? Was RJ Monifa's big bet? I don't think so since it was being implemented before she was appointed, no?

No. Restorative Justice was implemented way before McKnight took charge.

Nobody will be held accountable because there is no oversight of MCPS.

When my kid was in 4th grade, a kid attacked her because my clumsy and somewhat awkward daughter accidentally bumped into her in a lunch line. When attacked, my daughter defended herself. Even though there were multiple witnesses saying the other kid attacked unprovoked, both kids got into “trouble” for it. The punishment was both students had to eat lunch together and talk about how the others actions had made them feel. Nothing else happened to the kid who attacked her, and this child did the same thing several more times that year with the same “consequences”. That was a decade ago, so RJ was well established even then.