Dr. Reid replacing school discipline with “restorative justice” ?

[Anonymous]

What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

[Anonymous]

I’m skeptical about RJ and tend to err on the side of consequences (maybe they coexist?). But what strikes me is the placing of additional training and responsibilities on already-overburdened school staff. How about we make central office staff do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And this is why I am a D who is not voting in the upcoming election. I have a HS student in FCPS and had to pull my MS'er out of FCPS for the third year because this district is a sh!tshow. School Admin uses the existence of "restorative justice" as an excuse to do nothing, even if the restorative justice mediator opts not to proceed with the matter. So they say "restorative justice" but that doesn't even mean the process will be used! And, now they want school staff to administer it - no thank you.

The only reason I will be voting for Ryan and Moon is because they will respect kids pronouns, I am not happy with no 0's and rules, but I want kids to be respected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m skeptical about RJ and tend to err on the side of consequences (maybe they coexist?). But what strikes me is the placing of additional training and responsibilities on already-overburdened school staff. How about we make central office staff do it?

Agree. I wondered who these two school-based facilitators for each school would be. New additional employees? The current principal/assistant principals? They already handle regular discipline issues so turning them into facilitators is what they are already doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

It is the removal of most consequences for bad behavior.

I think it might have some value in a preschool setting, but beyond that it is worthless and ineffective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

This is what happened to my DC two years ago. We heard reports and updates about DC and the other student from the counselor and principal - but nothing changed. It was terrible for DC.

[Anonymous]

What happens in instances where there isn't one specific victim?

For example, a child brings drugs to school.

How would that be handled under restorative justice? Please tell me they don't just sit in a circle and talk about it, then let the kid go back to class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

This is a bad take. The onus is on the victim for articulating how the bully's actions made them feel, yes, and then they get to say what would make them feel like justice was restored (hence the name) - is it that the bully no longer has physical access to them (is moved classes or removed from the bus)? Is it that the bully acknowledges their feelings and apologizes? The perpetrator then has to 'do the work' to make things right. It's about linking consequences to actions...because really, does in-school suspension actually make a bully less likely to bully?

Now, that said, done well, this is an inordinately time-consuming process for both teachers/administrators and students. I don't personally believe it's a good use of time. But fundamentally, I can see where it would be viewed as a more appropriate and effective way to address inter-student issues. Backing out even further, I'm shocked by how much of my 2nd grader's classroom time is spent on social-emotional learning. They only do science OR social studies - alternating units - but have near-daily lessons on emotional regulation, fairness, etc. This is especially wtf-worthy when you look at the number of ESOL kids in my child's school - are they really grasping (and benefitting from) lessons on "staying in the green zone"?! I know the pandemic exposed and exacerbated massive gaps in early childhood access to learning and classroom settings but the course-correction feels excessive. Teachers are being forced to spend instructional time on this stuff instead of being able to identify those children who need additional supports - probably because the special needs staff simply doesn't exist in the numbers and expertise necessary.

Anyway, long winded comment to say that I understand and sympathize with the overall concern that FCPS is WAY too heavy on non-academic initiatives and the burden is disproportionately hitting teachers...but I don't think that makes restorative justice necessarily the wrong approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

You forget the part where the bully escalates even further after the meeting because they've been taught there are no consequences. Like PP said, the victim has to tell the bully how their action effect them. This gives the bully more ammunition for future bullying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

This is a bad take. The onus is on the victim for articulating how the bully's actions made them feel, yes, and then they get to say what would make them feel like justice was restored (hence the name) - is it that the bully no longer has physical access to them (is moved classes or removed from the bus)? Is it that the bully acknowledges their feelings and apologizes? The perpetrator then has to 'do the work' to make things right. It's about linking consequences to actions...because really, does in-school suspension actually make a bully less likely to bully?

Now, that said, done well, this is an inordinately time-consuming process for both teachers/administrators and students. I don't personally believe it's a good use of time. But fundamentally, I can see where it would be viewed as a more appropriate and effective way to address inter-student issues. Backing out even further, I'm shocked by how much of my 2nd grader's classroom time is spent on social-emotional learning. They only do science OR social studies - alternating units - but have near-daily lessons on emotional regulation, fairness, etc. This is especially wtf-worthy when you look at the number of ESOL kids in my child's school - are they really grasping (and benefitting from) lessons on "staying in the green zone"?! I know the pandemic exposed and exacerbated massive gaps in early childhood access to learning and classroom settings but the course-correction feels excessive. Teachers are being forced to spend instructional time on this stuff instead of being able to identify those children who need additional supports - probably because the special needs staff simply doesn't exist in the numbers and expertise necessary.

Anyway, long winded comment to say that I understand and sympathize with the overall concern that FCPS is WAY too heavy on non-academic initiatives and the burden is disproportionately hitting teachers...but I don't think that makes restorative justice necessarily the wrong approach.

My son was bullied relentlessly by another kid for months - my son has mild ASD and cannot articulate or even know what he needs to make him feel safe. The onus is on him? That's bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

It is a response to the grossly disproportionate dispensation of harsh discipline to blacks in schools. So yeah, it’s race-based in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?

No, it is not race based, but of course FCPS brings race into everything even when it is not there.

An example of restorative justice would be if your son has been bullied all quarter by a kid, with the admin well aware of the bullying, so instead of the bully getting escalating punishments culminating ina suspension or explusion, the counselor would gather the bully with the vistim, and have them talk about how the bullying makes the victim feel, followed by the victim publicly forgiving and affirming the bully.

It is a bully/perpetrator centered model, which outs the responsibility on the victim to make things right and gives all the power to the person doing wrong.

It is a response to the grossly disproportionate dispensation of harsh discipline to blacks in schools. So yeah, it’s race-based in that regard.

Is that the case? Or are there other factors that you are leaving out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Restorative justice is an awful idea that empowers the bullies and trouble makers, weakens the teachers and administrators, and puts the burden for bad behavior on the kids who behave.

Restorative justice Does. Not. Work.

This is unfortunately very true. Our child, who is an average-behaving teenager but never gets in trouble, was lucky enough to be placed next to a disrupting student. My student knew this person was disruptive and the student does not like to be at school. The student is constantly mean to my student and disrupts the entire class. Guess which student got suspended for their behavior in class due to an interaction with this student? This restorative justice / DEI is seeking to increase the number of suspensions for non-minority kids to make the school district's numbers look better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Restorative justice is an awful idea that empowers the bullies and trouble makers, weakens the teachers and administrators, and puts the burden for bad behavior on the kids who behave.

Restorative justice Does. Not. Work.

This is unfortunately very true. Our child, who is an average-behaving teenager but never gets in trouble, was lucky enough to be placed next to a disrupting student. My student knew this person was disruptive and the student does not like to be at school. The student is constantly mean to my student and disrupts the entire class. Guess which student got suspended for their behavior in class due to an interaction with this student? This restorative justice / DEI is seeking to increase the number of suspensions for non-minority kids to make the school district's numbers look better.

Yes, this!