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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://moco360.media/2023/02/28/mcps-students-data-suggest-failing-grade-for-restorative-justice-practices/

[quote]Montgomery County Public Schools is in the middle of formally assessing the success of its social justice-inspired approach to conflict resolution in cases of school bullying, violence and hate bias using state-provided metrics.

Data indicates that MCPS efforts to adopt a restorative justice model may not have been effective, while students and parents question the success of its approach to conflict resolution.

The school district describes restorative justice as “an approach to building community, self-care, and conflict resolution.” The approach was first adopted in 2019 after the state passed regulations requiring schools to employ more trauma-informed practices. Within this model, principals can request a member of the central office restorative justice team to be deployed to schools as incidents arise[/quote][/quote]

Restorative justice isn't struggling at all. Parents who lack access to any data are skeptical of these new methods.[/quote]

Please come to my 4th grade classroom any day, stay for a day or a week, and try repeating that. Make sure you also speak to the students who don’t feel safe. A child brought a knife to school last week and said he was sorry and it was an “accident” that the knife slipped into his bag. Well that’s what he told admin to appease them even after bragging to the students that he had it. He had to stay in the office for 1/2 a day but don’t worry he still got lunch and recess with his scared classmates. The scared class had a circle and was told to understand that it was an accident. The same child beats up other children multiple times a week. The class is told to accept that he is trying to communicate his frustration. To be clear, the frustration he has is that he is being asked to do work. In our grade, there are 3 others that are also scary- 1 in each class. But they go into the halls and create massive havoc.

Teachers are not okay with being told that everything is fixed and fine because we’ve had a circle. [/quote]

This is depressing. MCPS, wake up! This is not ok![/quote]

What can parents do in this situation. We are not there yet (only in K) but I want to be prepared if /when it happens.[/quote]

MCPS teacher here - one random email parent to the principal won't do anything.  Parents have to unite and email in large numbers to the administration, area director, and area superintendent. Just one email to the area director only gets forwarded back to the school's principal. There might be a phone call made to the principal but the message is always to just smooth it over with the "we have zero tolerance for these disruptions to learning..." and then nothing will change. I have to hope that there is power in numbers.  As a teacher, I feel bad for these kids who have no coping skills and little outside supports. However, I also have to care about the safety and learning of my other students who can self-regulate and really want to be there to learn and socialize with friends. [/quote]

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