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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What are some actual examples of "restorative justice"?

Is it just race based discipline?[/quote]

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.

[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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