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

[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.

They had started implementing it even before Jack Smith took charge.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/A9KNVB570BF0/$file/Restorative%20Justice.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They had started implementing it even before Jack Smith took charge.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/A9KNVB570BF0/$file/Restorative%20Justice.pdf

I read they were suspending kids in the antisemitism thread. Seems like this thread is out of date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is how MCPS works. The school system (and the county as a whole) embraces whatever half-baked progressive idea being pushed at the time. Doesn’t matter if there is data to show how effective it will be or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Because discipline and accountability are not #Equitable.

[Anonymous]

Even at the elementary level RJ doesn't work. I don't know how people don't understand that a lot of kids who cause harm catch on real quick what to say to admin to act like they're sorry. Fast forward to the next day when the same behavior repeats itself. How is a teacher supposed to get through any content when they're constantly putting out fires?

[Anonymous]

So, one thing I find curious is that the presentation linked in the article appears to be entirely an MCPS product. However, back in 2019 (ish), MCPS had commissioned a RAND study on restorative justice practices. My child's school was in the study, but it just sort of....evaporated at some point.

If I were the sort of person with time/energy to look into this sort of thing, I'd be asking some pointed questions about what happened to THAT study and whether the results were ever released.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

progressives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, one thing I find curious is that the presentation linked in the article appears to be entirely an MCPS product. However, back in 2019 (ish), MCPS had commissioned a RAND study on restorative justice practices. My child's school was in the study, but it just sort of....evaporated at some point.

If I were the sort of person with time/energy to look into this sort of thing, I'd be asking some pointed questions about what happened to THAT study and whether the results were ever released.

This is common practice in MCPS. MCPS hires an entity to do a ‘study’. Taxpayers pay tons of money to fund the study. And it just sort of…evaporates.

Plenty of people are making money with this model. But, our kids are certainly losing out.

[Anonymous]

This place is anonymous so… if you’re a school administrator, do you actually feel like RJ and circles work? If so, why? If not, why? how will a forced circle solve real problems?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This place is anonymous so… if you’re a school administrator, do you actually feel like RJ and circles work? If so, why? If not, why? how will a forced circle solve real problems?

Yes, they're very effective. The issue is that student discipline is a private matter, so you never hear the whole story as an outsider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This place is anonymous so… if you’re a school administrator, do you actually feel like RJ and circles work? If so, why? If not, why? how will a forced circle solve real problems?

Yes, they're very effective. The issue is that student discipline is a private matter, so you never hear the whole story as an outsider.

This is full on BS. MCPS states that barely 3% of RJ incidences were effective.

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.”

MCPS data shows that only 7% of over 1,100 school visits from the restorative justice team have involved assisting with conflict resolution in specific incidents. Most of the team’s work consists of providing professional development and training opportunities to school staff, said Shauna-Kay Jorandby, MCPS director of student engagement, behavioral health and academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This place is anonymous so… if you’re a school administrator, do you actually feel like RJ and circles work? If so, why? If not, why? how will a forced circle solve real problems?

Yes, they're very effective. The issue is that student discipline is a private matter, so you never hear the whole story as an outsider.

If there has to be an apology, how is it private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More on how restorative justice is supposed to work:

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/beyond-prisons/2011/07/08/righting-wrongs-the-maori-way

That's nice, but NZ is tiny population wise compared to the US and the Maori are a slice of that already small population.

So made MCPS think they could copy and paste that model into one of the nation's largest school districts?

This never seemed scalable to begin with.

This. Without sufficient expertise, budget, measurement, leadership, communication and accountability, big ideas don't come to fruition.

It has not worked anywhere in the US. It revictimizes victims and allows bullies to continue bullying.

[Anonymous]

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mcps-responds-to-parents-restorative-justice-concerns?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0kR_Arwl00G292Iw8Wad5lP9b8AfGKxs4q8pNPqmmkX1p5HcVDb7I3nP4&fs=e&s=cl

I’m glad this is getting press. RJ is absurd.

[Anonymous]

How and why did "accountability," "consequences" and "discipline" become bad words in our school system? Parents didn't ask for this.