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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a high school teacher. My school doesn’t respond to teacher referrals apparently. Staff have very little idea of what the discipline policy is, the processes, RJ initiatives, etc. I know RJ meetings happen but there are only a few a month. However police visits are up and charges have increased according to what has been released by the board of Ed in presentations. Staff are not given any updates about discipline numbers though at the high school level. Weird that I hear more through board of Ed meetings. We have had staff assaulted by students and no one tells us except via students rumors.

At the BoE meeting last month, it was stated that police visits were way down now.

Oh then that must be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not affiliated with MCPS, but have had some exposure to RJ practice. The ones that I'm familiar with, the victim is NOT required to participate if they don't want to. Are PPs saying that MCPS literally forces the victimized kids to engage in a "circle" or other RJ practice?

My kid was forced to eat lunch for a week with the kid that attacked her.

Mine, too! They learned about empathy and remorse, and it resolved the issue. RJ is so amazing.

When done correctly and supported by an administration, the results can be amazing—unfortunately, too many of the regressives undermine RJ or never give it a chance to work. They see it as a threat to their lucrative school to private prison pipleline.

My child is not there for a social experiment, he is not going to be further victimized to try to fix someone else. That is just harmful to the victim.

[Anonymous]

Here is a US Government article explaining how institutions implement "fast food" versions of Restprative Justice that fail to be restorative.

If you are a proud progressive, you should demand better from MCPS. Slapping a progessive label on something doesn't make it a good effort.

https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/pubs/implementing/tools.html

[Anonymous]

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

Didn’t work for mine. How old is your kid?

BTW, love all your !!!s

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

It isn’t theoretical. It works well for the Maori, who invented it. Problem is, we aren’t Māori. We are Pakeha.

No we are not. Not most of us, anyway. I'm sure some of us are (which is one of the great things about MCPS's highly diverse population). The idea of apology and forgiveness isn't exactly unique to Māori culture. It's even built in the US legal system in parole and sentencing guidelines.

dp.. you know that perps often lie about their remorse to get out of the punishment, right? That includes kids. It's human nature, to a large degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

It's effective when used correctly, but seems like some are just against everything other than prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

It's effective when used correctly, but seems like some are just against everything other than prison.

There has been no evidence of it's effectiveness, yet you keep insisting it's effective. MCPS's own surveys have shown it's not effective, as the article that started this thread proved. Your RJ zombie talking points are DOA. Stop wasting bandwidth with them.

Furthermore, if this solution is so sensitive to error and dysfunction if it's not "used correctly," then maybe it's not a solution that's suitable for a school district of MCPS's scope, size and inconsistency.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

It isn’t theoretical. It works well for the Maori, who invented it. Problem is, we aren’t Māori. We are Pakeha.

No we are not. Not most of us, anyway. I'm sure some of us are (which is one of the great things about MCPS's highly diverse population). The idea of apology and forgiveness isn't exactly unique to Māori culture. It's even built in the US legal system in parole and sentencing guidelines.

Seriously, and someone else in this thread pointed out that RJ doesn't work all that perfectly in Maori culture.

The RJ proponents are so unhinged it's unreal. They would be more persuasive if they were honest and transparent about the parameters and limits of the RJ approach but instead, because they're desperate to pour millions of dollars in resources into their academic, philosophical fantasy, they insist till they're blue in the face that RJ is a panacea and can cure all, if only we all just believed!

Get a grip and grow up, RJ evangelists. You'll get more people onboard if you're honest and real instead of entertaining fantasies and trying to force them onto others as reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

It's effective when used correctly, but seems like some are just against everything other than prison.

There has been no evidence of it's effectiveness, yet you keep insisting it's effective. MCPS's own surveys have shown it's not effective, as the article that started this thread proved. Your RJ zombie talking points are DOA. Stop wasting bandwidth with them.

Furthermore, if this solution is so sensitive to error and dysfunction if it's not "used correctly," then maybe it's not a solution that's suitable for a school district of MCPS's scope, size and inconsistency.

The evidence presented at the March BOE made it sound like RJ was working miracles. Bottom line is calls to police are way down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

It's effective when used correctly, but seems like some are just against everything other than prison.

There has been no evidence of it's effectiveness, yet you keep insisting it's effective. MCPS's own surveys have shown it's not effective, as the article that started this thread proved. Your RJ zombie talking points are DOA. Stop wasting bandwidth with them.

Furthermore, if this solution is so sensitive to error and dysfunction if it's not "used correctly," then maybe it's not a solution that's suitable for a school district of MCPS's scope, size and inconsistency.

The evidence presented at the March BOE made it sound like RJ was working miracles. Bottom line is calls to police are way down.

Calls to police are way down because administrators have been told to avoid doing so lest they undermine the RJ approach being pushed by the central office. It’s like saying you haven’t seen any roaches in the apartment ever since you stopped turning on the lights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not affiliated with MCPS, but have had some exposure to RJ practice. The ones that I'm familiar with, the victim is NOT required to participate if they don't want to. Are PPs saying that MCPS literally forces the victimized kids to engage in a "circle" or other RJ practice?

My kid was forced to eat lunch for a week with the kid that attacked her.

Mine, too! They learned about empathy and remorse, and it resolved the issue. RJ is so amazing.

When done correctly and supported by an administration, the results can be amazing—unfortunately, too many of the regressives undermine RJ or never give it a chance to work. They see it as a threat to their lucrative school to private prison pipleline.

“Real communism has never been tried! If not for the wreckers and saboteurs we’d love in the workers’ paradise already!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Under the Obama era it was decided that too many children of a certain race were getting suspended.

RJ was implemented to use in lieu of suspensions.

Don't know about any of that but when they used to stop my kid from being bullied it worked!

It's effective when used correctly, but seems like some are just against everything other than prison.

There has been no evidence of it's effectiveness, yet you keep insisting it's effective. MCPS's own surveys have shown it's not effective, as the article that started this thread proved. Your RJ zombie talking points are DOA. Stop wasting bandwidth with them.

Furthermore, if this solution is so sensitive to error and dysfunction if it's not "used correctly," then maybe it's not a solution that's suitable for a school district of MCPS's scope, size and inconsistency.

The evidence presented at the March BOE made it sound like RJ was working miracles. Bottom line is calls to police are way down.

Calls to police are way down because administrators have been told to avoid doing so lest they undermine the RJ approach being pushed by the central office. It’s like saying you haven’t seen any roaches in the apartment ever since you stopped turning on the lights.

+1 if we don't report, then the numbers don't look so bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a high school teacher. My school doesn’t respond to teacher referrals apparently. Staff have very little idea of what the discipline policy is, the processes, RJ initiatives, etc. I know RJ meetings happen but there are only a few a month. However police visits are up and charges have increased according to what has been released by the board of Ed in presentations. Staff are not given any updates about discipline numbers though at the high school level. Weird that I hear more through board of Ed meetings. We have had staff assaulted by students and no one tells us except via students rumors.

At the BoE meeting last month, it was stated that police visits were way down now.

Oh then that must be true.

The post was in response to claims that were the opposite of what was stated at the BoE meeting.