Restorative justice instead of suspensions
Oct 20, 2009
from the City Insider column on SFGate.com:
The San Francisco school board adopted a policy Tuesday night that will require school administrators to consider alternatives to suspension and expulsion when children violate school rules.
While suspension and expulsion are mandatory in certain cases -- for bringing a gun, knife or bomb to school, selling drugs or committing sexual assault -- principals have leeway in determining punishment when students get into fights, repeatedly disrupt class or damage school property.
Principals will be required to incorporate "restorative justice" programs like peer courts to address the unacceptable behavior while keeping the students in school.
Board members noted that suspensions and expulsions disproportionately affect African-American, Latino and Pacific Islander students.
"There is a direct correlation between how much time a student is in class and their academic achievement," said board President Kim-Shree Maufas in a statement. "Sometimes we are too quick to suspend a child without taking the time to explore other means of corrective action, which may in fact result in changing a child's behavior for the better in the long term."
The new policy, adopted 6-0 (board member Hydra Mendoza was absent), will kick in for all middle schools and a handful of elementary and high schools next fall, with additional schools incorporated in subsequent years.
The policy being debated can be found from pages 26-40 of the board's agenda.
The school board's press release can be found here.
