A Restorative Approach to Discipline
Blue Water Educational Consulting exists to share the benefits of restorative discipline practices and other means of correction of student school behavior. We serve Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties by providing professional development, administrator coaching, teacher orientation and customized curriculum development.
Districts and school systems are committed to decreasing home suspensions for students, which disproportionately affect students of color and students with disabilities. Students who are home suspended lose critical instructional time, and more often than not, the causes of the behavior are not addressed nor are amends made for those harmed by the behavior. The critical issue becomes determining what to do with students instead of home suspension.
Since 2011-12, schools have been trying to find different ways to handle disciplining students. The old way of doing things was detention, suspension and expulsion. The new way is through approaches like Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports. These can include methods such as in-school suspension, counseling, restitution, etc.
Paul Meyers, superintendent of Standard SD, said his district uses PBIS, a Circle of Friends program, adding more school psychologists and other efforts in this regard. They have also implemented ATS - Alternative to Suspension at the middle school level.
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