A prominent African-American city official was asked a couple of years ago about the most pressing challenge facing Rochester’s schools. His response: the most pressing challenge is working with children who need social-emotional help while maintaining high standards for the rest of the students.Â
It’s a difficult and sensitive subject that comes up often. How do teachers and school officials find this kind of support for children without criminalizing them? And why should parents, particularly African-American parents, have confidence in a mental health system that has often treated them with disrespect?
The subject came up again in a roundabout way at a recent school board meeting. Board members were briefed on the status of the recommendations for a new Code of Conduct policy. The recommendations rely heavily on restorative justice practices and less on punitive measures. If handled correctly, the shift should mean fewer student disruptions, less violence, and a significant drop in suspensions – which have historically been high in city schools, hitting African American and Latino students the hardest.
Even though a final Code of Conduct policy has not yet been approved by the board, some schools are already using restorative justice practices. And the suspension rate is decreasing. Deputy Superintendent Christiana Otuwa told board members that the district has had 762 short-term suspensions so far this school year, which is down from 1,752 from this time last year, and 43 long-term suspensions — down from 762 from this time last year.Â
But it’s not time to celebrate. Otuwa also stressed that restorative justice practices alone probably will not resolve all student-behavior issues. While some board members questioned whether teachers are adequately trained to work in urban school environments, Otuwa countered that the solution doesn’t stop with teacher skill sets, either.
Many students need social-emotional support, as well, she said. And she said that the district needs more alternative programs that address students’ interests and needs.
There’s an argument to make for increasing the number of social workers, counselors, and psychologists in most public schools today.
But it’s especially urgent for districts like the Rochester City School District where more and more parents are choosing alternatives to city schools, such as charter, private, and suburban options.
It’s not fair to stop parents from making those choices, but what are they leaving behind?
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2015.
Flabbergasted. A couple years ago, RCSD eliminated most of their Student & Family Support Centers. These programs helped connect students and families to social/emotional supports in the school and in the community. Since their demise, those supports are much more difficult to access for RCSD students. Many of the support programs ended up going to other schools/districts. For Otuwa to trumpet the need for social-emotional supports while having a hand in eliminating those supports is absolutely bewildering.
It is all quite silly. The RCSD is broken beyond repair and spreading a little restorative justice on top of a huge, moldy piece of bread is laughable. The cultures in most schools are rotten and almost everyone knows this. You can’t add a program and expect to fix an environment that is cancerous or a motivate a mind that is hopeless. Lower suspensions does mean a thing. Neither does more learning time or more music teachers. It is the individual and team drive coupled with the quality of the relations between the people in the schools that matter. No mandated policy will ever change this and we have thirty years of evidence in the RCSD proving that top down solutions fail.
Any RCSD teacher who could stomach reading Outwa’s restorative practice mumbo jumbo has probably fallen on the floor laughing in hysterics at the farce of it all. They barely provide adequate security, social workers and enough admins- how are they providing mediation and counseling??? GIVE ME A BREAK AND SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD. Incredible.