The social justice organization has been grappling with its own sexual misconduct issue.
restorative justice
Posted inNews & Opinion
Conduct discussion in RCSD brings out deep-rooted issues
The Rochester school board has until its June meeting to handle an issue that has been festering for years: how to work with misbehaving students and their parents. Board members have received a draft proposal of a new code of conduct policy that aims to replace punitive approaches to discipline with restorative justice practices. For […]
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Workshop aims to stem violence
People tend to deal with conflict either by avoiding it or fighting. But neither is productive, says Shannon Richmond, a volunteer with the Alternatives to Violence Project, and both approaches can lead to violence. Everyone has the capacity for violence, she says, but they also have the ability to learn techniques that resolve conflict and […]
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Teachers contract sidesteps work on student discipline, advocates say
The Rochester City School District and the Rochester Teachers Association have negotiated a tentative new contract and some of the deal’s contents are catching people by surprise. A section concerning personal injury benefits, in particular, is receiving a lot of attention: “Crimes committed in schools will be pursued as crimes committed elsewhere to the extent […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Feedback 8/12
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Climate change: Lowering temperatures at RCSD
Stephne Givens, then 13, stepped off the bus in front of Jefferson Middle School on the morning of September 21, 1995. Within minutes, an argument broke out, and Givens was fatally stabbed in the neck by a 12-year-old school mate. Givens’ brutal death shocked the country. And some Rochester school officials say that the killing […]
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Young offenders, adult prisons
The Raise the Age movement seeks to get youth ages 16 and 17 out of the adult criminal justice system.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Rochester’s underground justice system
Whenever Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard is asked to explain this year’s surge in violent crime, he answers that many of the city’s altercations are the result of “ongoing disputes.” It’s a response that some people find wanting — after all, couldn’t most shootings, stabbings, and assaults be attributed to a dispute of some kind? […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Rochester needs restorative justice
I spent a couple of hours recently with Dominic Barter, a former school teacher who has pioneered a form of restorative justice known as restorative circles. And I came away encouraged about the prospects for Rochester. Restorative justice is not about punishing the perpetrator of a crime — though it can and often does take […]
