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Denver Public Schools sings new tune on calming kids
by Burt Hubbard in DenverPost.com:
....For the past several years, North has been in the forefront of a new Denver Public Schools policy that emphasizes intervention and mediation to resolve fights and disruptions rather than out-of- school suspensions and expulsions.
The session, geared toward letting students know their rights, was sponsored by Padres & Jovenes Unidos. The group's 2005 report charged that the district suspended too many students for nonviolent offenses and disproportionately targeted minorities. It helped lead to the policy changes.
"It's important that every student know their rights," junior Brandon Garcia told the students after leading them in a Denver Broncos version of the wave.
Oakland school board approves district-wide restorative justice initiative despite budget crisis
from Lillian R.Mongeau's article in OaklandNorth.net:
In other business, the board voted Wednesday night to implement a district-wide “Restorative Justice” initiative....
Restorative Justice focuses on “acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities, it insists that justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that process,” according to the Prison Fellowship International’s Restorative Justice Online web site. In schools, this takes the form of training teachers and students to practice active communication, face-to-face reconciliation and non-punitive actions to address misconduct.
Nikita Mitchell, 16,is a junior at Castlemont High where her group, Youth Together, has been trained in restorative justice practices. She said that a key part of the program is better communication. A teacher who notices a student is upset or acting out, for instance, can enter the information into a computer system that the “teacher of record” for the restorative justice program will check daily. That teacher will then refer a trained student to have a one-on-one meeting with the upset student to talk about the problem and work on solutions like apologies, mediation, or “peacemaking circles,” in which members of the community share their feelings and come to a consensus about how to move past inappropriate actions.
