Positive Discipline Student engagement with restorative practice models

Georgene Fountain Montgomery County Public Schools Maryland ES Music Educator Baltimore City Community College - English Tuskegee University - Sociology Tuskegee University - Special Ed Indiana University School of Music

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions Student engagement alternatives to suspension Improve education organizations

Make practical sense of disproportionate suspensions

Seminal work on mass incarceration Michelle Alexander

Go Michelle Alexander!

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions “What is your organization doing about the mass incarceration of 2.3 million Americans?” -Michelle Alexander

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions MSEA Maryland State Department of Education: Feb 2012 Report on Disparities in Out of School Suspensions & In-school Arrests

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions Male students of color & disabled students Disproportionally higher suspension rates Disproportionally higher in-school arrest rates

5 minute ACTIVITY What are some causal factors for disparities in suspensions? What inspires you to stop the disparities?

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions “an act more as a perpetuator of racial order than an objective arbiter of infraction and penalty.” “adult perceptions of a student’s appearance, neighborhood, family, social background”

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions “Instead of schools being a pipeline to opportunity, schools are feeding our prisons.” -Michelle Alexander Rethinking Schools, Vol. 26, No. 22,

Marian Wright Edelman

Academic difficulties Truancy Acting out Mental Health Consequences Dropping Out Pushed Out Prison

Teachers, Reduce disparities in school discipline NOW!

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

Implement Restorative Practices

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs The race and social background of the doer was more important than the incident

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs “Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships & Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools A Guide for Educators” National Opportunity to Learn Campaign Advancement Project AFT NEA NEA / AFT Practitioners Researchers

Defines restorative practice Why it fosters healthy school relationships How it can be a useful Models, steps for school-wide implementation Self-reflection for practitioners

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs San Francisco Unified School District: Relationships are central to building community Ensure everyone is valued, everyone is heard Emphasizing doing things “with,” not “to” or “for”

Focus on the harm done rather than only rule- breaking Engage in collaborative problem solving Enhance responsibility and empower change and growth

Least formal tool Affective Statements

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs Douglas County School District, Castle Rock, CO: "Affective" teacher communicates how the student's behavior makes them feel.

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs For example: “I feel frustrated when people are talking when I am trying to teach. I get distracted and lose my train of thought. It makes me feel like the time I spent preparing was wasted and is not appreciated.”

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs Not intended to shame, vent personal stressors, but to develop empathy, establish boundaries and provide authentic observation.”

Journey Within

Use affective questions

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs For the person causing the incident: 1. What happened? 2. What were you thinking of at the time?

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs 3. What have you thought about since? 4. Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way? 5. What do you need to do to make things right?

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs For the person affected by the incident: 1. What did you think when you realized what had happened? 2. What impact has the incident had on you and others?

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs 3. What has been the hardest thing for you? 4. What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

5 minute ACTIVITY Brainstorm then decide on a fictitious incident/ scenario where you would use Restorative Questions

Improve education organizations

School to Prison Pipeline Improve education organizations

NEA Advocacy Executive and Legislative Branches

NEA partners with…

AFT Council of State Governments Advancement Project National Opportunity to Learn Campaign

NEA 2013 New Business Item 22

Improve education organizations “NEA shall disseminate to state and local affiliates best practices and school discipline policy recommendations to eradicate what is metaphorically called the “school-to-prison- pipeline”…

Improve education organizations “…whereby school districts issue out-of-school suspensions for non-violent and non-dangerous conduct, not solely to, but in particularly higher numbers to, male students of color.” -Georgene Fountain (MD) author -Julius Thomas (CA) seconded

NEA 2014 Discipline policy change

Improve education organizations Resolutions Statement on discipline: b-71 “The association believes that policies promoting educational processes which emphasize prevention, effective interventions, and rehabilitation…” “…will decrease the use of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, in-school arrests, and the practice that is commonly called the “school-to-prison pipeline” that can lead to future incarcerations.”

5 minute ACTIVITY What you can do to increase awareness within your organizations?

Every male of color will be in prison, on parole or on probation at some point in their life if mass incarceration does not stop. -Sentencing Project

“Are ya’ through?!”

Thank You! Working for a better world