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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RJ is just another weapon to kill off MCPS. We have 3 years left. We moved here for the schools several years ago. Very disappointed now with MCPS.

If you left 3 years ago, how are you disappointed now. It has no impact on you. Move on.

You need to slow down and re-read my post.

You left MCPS 3 years ago..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RJ is just another weapon to kill off MCPS. We have 3 years left. We moved here for the schools several years ago. Very disappointed now with MCPS.

If you left 3 years ago, how are you disappointed now. It has no impact on you. Move on.

You need to slow down and re-read my post.

You left MCPS 3 years ago..

Oh wait, well that was a dumb move... time to move again or send your kids to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did I post this already? Apologies if I did. My son is in high school and has a great first period teacher. She's very clear on expectations, great instructor, and maintains classroom focus and safety pretty well.

A week or so ago, two kids came into class late, which the teacher hates, but they reeked of weed and were obviously high. Probably came in after hotboxing out in the parking lot. The whole class was just staring at them, and she told them to report to the office. They wouldn't go and were just giggling, playing on their phones. And she stood up and told them to leave. They rolled their eyes, and the guy said "f you bi...." and they left.

Not violence, but so disruptive, and the other kids' learning gets disrupted too. I am sure teachers DO NOT want to put up with this stuff. If it's a one-off, it's not as bad. However, these types of disruptions are a fairly regular occurrence.

Anyway, no consequences for those kids. The high school can't do anything when kids smell like weed anyway, even if that alone is disrupting the class. But apparently it's difficult to get obviously high kids out of the classroom too.

Weed is a tough one since there is no test a cop can administer. Usually kids high on weed are not that disruptive and admin/teachers will just let them sleep it off in class or in the school somewhere. The issue here is that there were two of them escalating eachother by wanting to put on a show.

If a kid needs to sleep, they should get sent home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Naive parents got tricked into this nonsense.

There is a bullying incident in my child's classroom a week ago where they used RJ and it worked beautifully. The problem was completely resolved.

Per MCPS's own report, it's not working "beautifully". It's an abysmal failure.

Well, at our school, RJ helped put an end to my kid being bullied so I have to disagree. It works great.

Can you elaborate? How did it work?

A classmate was punching and pushing my kid down at recess daily. The teacher used RJ and got the kids together in a circle to talk. Afterward, the bully ceased bullying. Despite the many complaints here at least where my kid was concerned it seemed like a great resolution.

As I suspected, this was an elementary school issue. RJ seems most appropriate for many elementary school-level conflicts like this. Where RJ falls about is in the secondary schools where the conflicts can be more fraught with danger and harm beyond hurt feelings.

It's great to just say it only works for ES, but these anecdotal claims are wearing thin.

Could you please post some research studies that speak to the questions being asked here?

No, are your fingers broken or do you have research studies that you would like to add?
As a parent I'm appalled at this social experiment that lacks any sort of grounding in practice which is making my child more stressed out, unsafe and is causing their teachers to be stressed and or leave. It's outrageous.

That couldn't be further from the truth. RJ has shown great results in countless studies. Sure, a few RW astroturfers are against anything that isn't corporal punishment but that's inevitable on DCUM.

The whole reason RJ is popular in education circles is that it's done so well in every peer-reviewed study. Unfortunately, there's a lot of resistance to new ideas, especially from the right who prefer methods like corporal punishment and won't consider anything new.

This is not true. People are willing to try new ideas, provided there's demonstrable efficacy behind them.

RJ has some notions and ideas that simply don't make sense.

For example, RJ coaches say that RJ does not mean no consequences and no accountability, but they also insist consequences and accountability can't be punitive. When asked to give an example of a consequence that held perpetrators accountable but wasn't punitive, they can't muster up an example.

There are some laudable intentions and motivations behind RJ, but they don't seem rooted in the reality of the way human beings operate nor the limitations of the school system.

It is true and just saying it isn't because you don't like it doesn't make it so.

They tried it at our MS. It was a new idea. It was amazing. It worked miracles.

RJ is wonderful- unless you are a crazed RWNJ then you hate change and long for an imaginary past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Naive parents got tricked into this nonsense.

There is a bullying incident in my child's classroom a week ago where they used RJ and it worked beautifully. The problem was completely resolved.

Per MCPS's own report, it's not working "beautifully". It's an abysmal failure.

Well, at our school, RJ helped put an end to my kid being bullied so I have to disagree. It works great.

Can you elaborate? How did it work?

A classmate was punching and pushing my kid down at recess daily. The teacher used RJ and got the kids together in a circle to talk. Afterward, the bully ceased bullying. Despite the many complaints here at least where my kid was concerned it seemed like a great resolution.

As I suspected, this was an elementary school issue. RJ seems most appropriate for many elementary school-level conflicts like this. Where RJ falls about is in the secondary schools where the conflicts can be more fraught with danger and harm beyond hurt feelings.

It's great to just say it only works for ES, but these anecdotal claims are wearing thin.

Could you please post some research studies that speak to the questions being asked here?

No, are your fingers broken or do you have research studies that you would like to add?
As a parent I'm appalled at this social experiment that lacks any sort of grounding in practice which is making my child more stressed out, unsafe and is causing their teachers to be stressed and or leave. It's outrageous.

That couldn't be further from the truth. RJ has shown great results in countless studies. Sure, a few RW astroturfers are against anything that isn't corporal punishment but that's inevitable on DCUM.

The whole reason RJ is popular in education circles is that it's done so well in every peer-reviewed study. Unfortunately, there's a lot of resistance to new ideas, especially from the right who prefer methods like corporal punishment and won't consider anything new.

This is not true. People are willing to try new ideas, provided there's demonstrable efficacy behind them.

RJ has some notions and ideas that simply don't make sense.

For example, RJ coaches say that RJ does not mean no consequences and no accountability, but they also insist consequences and accountability can't be punitive. When asked to give an example of a consequence that held perpetrators accountable but wasn't punitive, they can't muster up an example.

There are some laudable intentions and motivations behind RJ, but they don't seem rooted in the reality of the way human beings operate nor the limitations of the school system.

It is true and just saying it isn't because you don't like it doesn't make it so.

They tried it at our MS. It was a new idea. It was amazing. It worked miracles.

RJ is wonderful- unless you are a crazed RWNJ then you hate change and long for an imaginary past.

I don't know about RJ working miracles. Here's the thing, our school implemented RJ last year and 80% of restorative practices are supposed to be preventative measures like holding daily community circles. The other 20% of RJ are the reactive measures like holding restorative circles when harm has been done. Now, for minor classroom issues, the restorative circles or conversations could be effective if staff are trained and have the time. However, time aside, the behaviors we are seeing post COVID are off the chain and not something that can be addressed in a restorative circle or conversation. Elementary age students beating the crap out of each other, their teachers, etc. are well beyond the RJ continuum. Unfortunately, the go-to response for our district is to try and fix all problems with RJ. It's simply not working. School-based staff are absolutely struggling right now to get through lessons while managing the behaviors. They certainly don't have the time to try and pause teaching to hold a fifteen minute restorative circle.
For anyone interested, here are the components that make up the RJ continuum (scroll to the middle) - https://www.learningtogive.org/news/using-restorative-justice-build-school-community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a single teacher in my elementary school who finds RJ to work. I know we're just one school but our building has become a disaster with student behavior issues like PP have mentioned. We have 2nd graders cursing out staff, hitting staff, throwing things at people, running laps around the building...you name the chaos, we have it.
Aside from students who genuinely need special services, we did not have these issues when parents were inconvenienced by a suspension and intake meeting after the third offense. My poor teammate has been dealing with a war zone in her room since September and the kids know that they can get away with literally anything at this point. The future is not looking bright for us right now.

School need to call parents and tell them to come get their kids. Simple. If parents also don't know what's going on they cannot do anything about it.

Parents lose their jobs leaving to go pick up kids. Sick kids stay in the nurses office until buses come. If a child didn’t get themselves on the bus in the AM, there is no way to get to school. Many have no wifi. Many parents are embarrassed and avoid the school. Many have mental health issues, over worked, exhausted and some are abused. Some are a month away from losing their lease on an apartment.

You have no idea what lower class struggle is like. I am not rationalizing kids behaviors but many of them are barely being raised and have so many home issues. The separation of wealth in this county and country is astounding.

Schools are not social service 24/7. The top 5% is destroying our country and our two party politics are puppets to them. People compare us to Finland and Netherlands schools and I just laugh. They are socialist countries that tax 35-40% but have paid 1 year maternity leave, free preschool, free K-12 with meals, free college, and free healthcare for those taxes. You think the top 5% would ever give 35-40% taxes to help LC or LMC? Heck no. They barely pay with our tax loopholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a single teacher in my elementary school who finds RJ to work. I know we're just one school but our building has become a disaster with student behavior issues like PP have mentioned. We have 2nd graders cursing out staff, hitting staff, throwing things at people, running laps around the building...you name the chaos, we have it.
Aside from students who genuinely need special services, we did not have these issues when parents were inconvenienced by a suspension and intake meeting after the third offense. My poor teammate has been dealing with a war zone in her room since September and the kids know that they can get away with literally anything at this point. The future is not looking bright for us right now.

School need to call parents and tell them to come get their kids. Simple. If parents also don't know what's going on they cannot do anything about it.

I'm an administrator - if we call parents to pick up a disruptive student early we have to mark it as a suspension. Suspensions require approval from our area director. Our directors put up a HUGE stink when we ask permission to suspend. Suspension numbers count against school and the district. Kids and their parents have caught on that there's no consequences. Our teachers are doing the best that they can but our hands are tied at the school level.

RJ was started during the Obama era as too many minority children were being suspended. A school and school district are evaluated now on the number of suspensions that the district has. If the school and/or district have "0" suspensions then the administration is considered to be doing a good job.

TrayVon Martin should have been in jail for robbery and drugs. But because of an early adopted program at his school district, he was kept out of the 'school to prison' pipeline, and instead was just suspended at the time of his death. A similar program was adopted at a nearby school district which led to another student who should have been in jail being out free and able to shoot many kids at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Naive parents got tricked into this nonsense.

There is a bullying incident in my child's classroom a week ago where they used RJ and it worked beautifully. The problem was completely resolved.

Per MCPS's own report, it's not working "beautifully". It's an abysmal failure.

Well, at our school, RJ helped put an end to my kid being bullied so I have to disagree. It works great.

Can you elaborate? How did it work?

A classmate was punching and pushing my kid down at recess daily. The teacher used RJ and got the kids together in a circle to talk. Afterward, the bully ceased bullying. Despite the many complaints here at least where my kid was concerned it seemed like a great resolution.

As I suspected, this was an elementary school issue. RJ seems most appropriate for many elementary school-level conflicts like this. Where RJ falls about is in the secondary schools where the conflicts can be more fraught with danger and harm beyond hurt feelings.

It's great to just say it only works for ES, but these anecdotal claims are wearing thin.

Could you please post some research studies that speak to the questions being asked here?

No, are your fingers broken or do you have research studies that you would like to add?
As a parent I'm appalled at this social experiment that lacks any sort of grounding in practice which is making my child more stressed out, unsafe and is causing their teachers to be stressed and or leave. It's outrageous.

That couldn't be further from the truth. RJ has shown great results in countless studies. Sure, a few RW astroturfers are against anything that isn't corporal punishment but that's inevitable on DCUM.

The whole reason RJ is popular in education circles is that it's done so well in every peer-reviewed study. Unfortunately, there's a lot of resistance to new ideas, especially from the right who prefer methods like corporal punishment and won't consider anything new.

This is not true. People are willing to try new ideas, provided there's demonstrable efficacy behind them.

RJ has some notions and ideas that simply don't make sense.

For example, RJ coaches say that RJ does not mean no consequences and no accountability, but they also insist consequences and accountability can't be punitive. When asked to give an example of a consequence that held perpetrators accountable but wasn't punitive, they can't muster up an example.

There are some laudable intentions and motivations behind RJ, but they don't seem rooted in the reality of the way human beings operate nor the limitations of the school system.

It is true and just saying it isn't because you don't like it doesn't make it so.

They tried it at our MS. It was a new idea. It was amazing. It worked miracles.

RJ is wonderful- unless you are a crazed RWNJ then you hate change and long for an imaginary past.

I don't know about RJ working miracles. Here's the thing, our school implemented RJ last year and 80% of restorative practices are supposed to be preventative measures like holding daily community circles. The other 20% of RJ are the reactive measures like holding restorative circles when harm has been done. Now, for minor classroom issues, the restorative circles or conversations could be effective if staff are trained and have the time. However, time aside, the behaviors we are seeing post COVID are off the chain and not something that can be addressed in a restorative circle or conversation. Elementary age students beating the crap out of each other, their teachers, etc. are well beyond the RJ continuum. Unfortunately, the go-to response for our district is to try and fix all problems with RJ. It's simply not working. School-based staff are absolutely struggling right now to get through lessons while managing the behaviors. They certainly don't have the time to try and pause teaching to hold a fifteen minute restorative circle.
For anyone interested, here are the components that make up the RJ continuum (scroll to the middle) - https://www.learningtogive.org/news/using-restorative-justice-build-school-community

They had RJ at my kids’ MS before Covid and it was a disaster. Probably worse now but we almost out so I don’t care anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a single teacher in my elementary school who finds RJ to work. I know we're just one school but our building has become a disaster with student behavior issues like PP have mentioned. We have 2nd graders cursing out staff, hitting staff, throwing things at people, running laps around the building...you name the chaos, we have it.
Aside from students who genuinely need special services, we did not have these issues when parents were inconvenienced by a suspension and intake meeting after the third offense. My poor teammate has been dealing with a war zone in her room since September and the kids know that they can get away with literally anything at this point. The future is not looking bright for us right now.

School need to call parents and tell them to come get their kids. Simple. If parents also don't know what's going on they cannot do anything about it.

Parents lose their jobs leaving to go pick up kids. Sick kids stay in the nurses office until buses come. If a child didn’t get themselves on the bus in the AM, there is no way to get to school. Many have no wifi. Many parents are embarrassed and avoid the school. Many have mental health issues, over worked, exhausted and some are abused. Some are a month away from losing their lease on an apartment.

You have no idea what lower class struggle is like. I am not rationalizing kids behaviors but many of them are barely being raised and have so many home issues. The separation of wealth in this county and country is astounding.

Schools are not social service 24/7. The top 5% is destroying our country and our two party politics are puppets to them. People compare us to Finland and Netherlands schools and I just laugh. They are socialist countries that tax 35-40% but have paid 1 year maternity leave, free preschool, free K-12 with meals, free college, and free healthcare for those taxes. You think the top 5% would ever give 35-40% taxes to help LC or LMC? Heck no. They barely pay with our tax loopholes.

You are ill-informed about both government and economics. I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. Top earners in this country are taxed well over 50%. We provide the following to low income families: 5 year maternity leave (TANF); free health care; free pre-K; free K-12 with meals and many, many more benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a single teacher in my elementary school who finds RJ to work. I know we're just one school but our building has become a disaster with student behavior issues like PP have mentioned. We have 2nd graders cursing out staff, hitting staff, throwing things at people, running laps around the building...you name the chaos, we have it.
Aside from students who genuinely need special services, we did not have these issues when parents were inconvenienced by a suspension and intake meeting after the third offense. My poor teammate has been dealing with a war zone in her room since September and the kids know that they can get away with literally anything at this point. The future is not looking bright for us right now.

School need to call parents and tell them to come get their kids. Simple. If parents also don't know what's going on they cannot do anything about it.

Parents lose their jobs leaving to go pick up kids. Sick kids stay in the nurses office until buses come. If a child didn’t get themselves on the bus in the AM, there is no way to get to school. Many have no wifi. Many parents are embarrassed and avoid the school. Many have mental health issues, over worked, exhausted and some are abused. Some are a month away from losing their lease on an apartment.

You have no idea what lower class struggle is like. I am not rationalizing kids behaviors but many of them are barely being raised and have so many home issues. The separation of wealth in this county and country is astounding.

Schools are not social service 24/7. The top 5% is destroying our country and our two party politics are puppets to them. People compare us to Finland and Netherlands schools and I just laugh. They are socialist countries that tax 35-40% but have paid 1 year maternity leave, free preschool, free K-12 with meals, free college, and free healthcare for those taxes. You think the top 5% would ever give 35-40% taxes to help LC or LMC? Heck no. They barely pay with our tax loopholes.

You are ill-informed about both government and economics. I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. Top earners in this country are taxed well over 50%. We provide the following to low income families: 5 year maternity leave (TANF); free health care; free pre-K; free K-12 with meals and many, many more benefits.

We probably do pay 50% in taxes when you add up all the taxes, but most aren't getting 5 years of maternity leave and all the things you say. That is extremely low income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a single teacher in my elementary school who finds RJ to work. I know we're just one school but our building has become a disaster with student behavior issues like PP have mentioned. We have 2nd graders cursing out staff, hitting staff, throwing things at people, running laps around the building...you name the chaos, we have it.
Aside from students who genuinely need special services, we did not have these issues when parents were inconvenienced by a suspension and intake meeting after the third offense. My poor teammate has been dealing with a war zone in her room since September and the kids know that they can get away with literally anything at this point. The future is not looking bright for us right now.

School need to call parents and tell them to come get their kids. Simple. If parents also don't know what's going on they cannot do anything about it.

Parents lose their jobs leaving to go pick up kids. Sick kids stay in the nurses office until buses come. If a child didn’t get themselves on the bus in the AM, there is no way to get to school. Many have no wifi. Many parents are embarrassed and avoid the school. Many have mental health issues, over worked, exhausted and some are abused. Some are a month away from losing their lease on an apartment.

You have no idea what lower class struggle is like. I am not rationalizing kids behaviors but many of them are barely being raised and have so many home issues. The separation of wealth in this county and country is astounding.

Schools are not social service 24/7. The top 5% is destroying our country and our two party politics are puppets to them. People compare us to Finland and Netherlands schools and I just laugh. They are socialist countries that tax 35-40% but have paid 1 year maternity leave, free preschool, free K-12 with meals, free college, and free healthcare for those taxes. You think the top 5% would ever give 35-40% taxes to help LC or LMC? Heck no. They barely pay with our tax loopholes.

Parents are the parents, not the schools. If your kids are sick, you get them. Same with misbehaving. People who rationalize all this are the reason why kids are behaving like they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Naive parents got tricked into this nonsense.

There is a bullying incident in my child's classroom a week ago where they used RJ and it worked beautifully. The problem was completely resolved.

Per MCPS's own report, it's not working "beautifully". It's an abysmal failure.

Well, at our school, RJ helped put an end to my kid being bullied so I have to disagree. It works great.

Can you elaborate? How did it work?

A classmate was punching and pushing my kid down at recess daily. The teacher used RJ and got the kids together in a circle to talk. Afterward, the bully ceased bullying. Despite the many complaints here at least where my kid was concerned it seemed like a great resolution.

As I suspected, this was an elementary school issue. RJ seems most appropriate for many elementary school-level conflicts like this. Where RJ falls about is in the secondary schools where the conflicts can be more fraught with danger and harm beyond hurt feelings.

It's great to just say it only works for ES, but these anecdotal claims are wearing thin.

Could you please post some research studies that speak to the questions being asked here?

No, are your fingers broken or do you have research studies that you would like to add?
As a parent I'm appalled at this social experiment that lacks any sort of grounding in practice which is making my child more stressed out, unsafe and is causing their teachers to be stressed and or leave. It's outrageous.

That couldn't be further from the truth. RJ has shown great results in countless studies. Sure, a few RW astroturfers are against anything that isn't corporal punishment but that's inevitable on DCUM.

The whole reason RJ is popular in education circles is that it's done so well in every peer-reviewed study. Unfortunately, there's a lot of resistance to new ideas, especially from the right who prefer methods like corporal punishment and won't consider anything new.

This is not true. People are willing to try new ideas, provided there's demonstrable efficacy behind them.

RJ has some notions and ideas that simply don't make sense.

For example, RJ coaches say that RJ does not mean no consequences and no accountability, but they also insist consequences and accountability can't be punitive. When asked to give an example of a consequence that held perpetrators accountable but wasn't punitive, they can't muster up an example.

There are some laudable intentions and motivations behind RJ, but they don't seem rooted in the reality of the way human beings operate nor the limitations of the school system.

It is true and just saying it isn't because you don't like it doesn't make it so.

They tried it at our MS. It was a new idea. It was amazing. It worked miracles.

RJ is wonderful- unless you are a crazed RWNJ then you hate change and long for an imaginary past.

I don't know about RJ working miracles. Here's the thing, our school implemented RJ last year and 80% of restorative practices are supposed to be preventative measures like holding daily community circles. The other 20% of RJ are the reactive measures like holding restorative circles when harm has been done. Now, for minor classroom issues, the restorative circles or conversations could be effective if staff are trained and have the time. However, time aside, the behaviors we are seeing post COVID are off the chain and not something that can be addressed in a restorative circle or conversation. Elementary age students beating the crap out of each other, their teachers, etc. are well beyond the RJ continuum. Unfortunately, the go-to response for our district is to try and fix all problems with RJ. It's simply not working. School-based staff are absolutely struggling right now to get through lessons while managing the behaviors. They certainly don't have the time to try and pause teaching to hold a fifteen minute restorative circle.
For anyone interested, here are the components that make up the RJ continuum (scroll to the middle) - https://www.learningtogive.org/news/using-restorative-justice-build-school-community

They had RJ at my kids’ MS before Covid and it was a disaster. Probably worse now but we almost out so I don’t care anymore.

They had a horoscope before COVID too but everyone loved it and had positive experiences.

[Anonymous]

The problem here isnt RJ. It's working great. The problem is some posters have a tough time accepting anything that isn't from the 1920s or earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem here isnt RJ. It's working great. The problem is some posters have a tough time accepting anything that isn't from the 1920s or earlier.

You keep saying it's working great but have yet to provide any concrete evidence. MCPS and all schools in MD had to infuse trauma informed practices into their discipline process after a bill was passed a few years ago. MCPS took the RJ approach but it has been poorly funded, staffed, and implemented. It's not working for behaviors beyond minor arguments between peers. You need to wake up and see that our public schools are a front row seat to all of the societal issues we've allowed to bubble over in the last decade. Our kids desperately need smaller class sizes, more interventions, counselors, etc. Most importantly, they need parents who are engaged and equipped to actually parent. The number of parents who come in to my front office daily reeking of weed, unsure of their child's teacher, grade-level, etc. is astounding. When I call about behavior issues, so many just don't answer the phone.

Long story short, please cite where it's working because at principal meetings, the discussion among us is that it's clearly not working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem here isnt RJ. It's working great. The problem is some posters have a tough time accepting anything that isn't from the 1920s or earlier.

It's NOT working great by MCPS's own success metrics. Their disciplinary disparities have actually increased. https://moco360.media/2023/03/09/black-hispanic-students-disproportionately-suspended-for-disrespect-mcps-data-shows/


School safety doesn't seem to be a measurement they care about though. Arrests are up. Bias incidents skyrocketed in February. Overdoses. Bathroom culture.

go look up your school in the list for tomorrow. At one of my children's schools, there are multiple robbery calls, including one with a knife. and possession of a handgun. Again, which I did not know about.