Vallejo school delegation participates in White House conference – Vallejo

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice are hosting teams of superintendents, principals, and teachers from across the country today for “Rethink Discipline”, a day-long conference at the White House on creating positive school climates and implementing effective discipline practices. In addition to serving as a dynamic resource hub, the center will also serve as a training and technical assistance portal for juvenile courts, schools, law enforcement agencies, and others to support school discipline reform efforts at the local level.

The mayor, chancellor, and police chief will review the recommendations and by September create an implementation timeline for any suggestions they decide to adopt, according to City Hall.

The method eschews explusion and suspenion when students misbehave or fight.

The maps below, based on data collected by the Office for Civil Rights during the 2011-2012 school year, shows the percentage of students who received out-of-school suspensions.

“You got to look at the whole child”. Minority students were arrested and suspended at disproportionate rates. As suspensions ticked up, racial disparities widened between black students and white students – and, to a lesser extent, hispanic students and white students. The district also requires students to complete schoolwork they missed during short suspensions.

A district spokesperson says this school year, the district is implementing a revised Student Code of Conduct, which she says sets clear expectations across the district for students.

“Our goal can’t be to have students go into the courtroom”, Runcie said.

“As a school district, we are continuing to transform the culture and climate of our schools through an integrated intervention approach”, said Bishop in a district press release.

Chancellor Carmen Fariña has urged schools to shift to a “restorative justice” approach, where students are pushed to fix any harm they caused, sometimes by doing in-school service, while also receiving counseling to address the causes of their misbehavior.

They were invited with a group of educational leaders and officials from across the country. But the report marks a major first step in that direction, some said.