SAN DIEGO – San Diego Unified parents are planning to voice their concern over the district’s “Restorative Discipline Policy” at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
“It’s deeply flawed and we have a lot of kids that are scared of just a few bad ones,” Norris Hill said.
Though the topic is not on the agenda for the evening, parents like Hill have come together after a series of concerning incidents at Standley Middle School.
Hill says students with repeated problems on campus ranging from bringing a bb gun to school campus to physical altercations and threats have been allowed to come back after each incident due to the district’s current policy on discipline.
“They always come back and they come back stronger and more cocky because they know they’re protected,” Hill said.
The San Diego Unified school board passed the “Restorative Discipline Policy” in 2020 with a focus on building anti-racist and restorative school communities within the district.
In the district’s description of the policy – it states “historically, exclusionary practices have disproportionately impacted students of color. Black and Latinx students, in particular, are more likely to be suspended, expelled, and arrested than their white peers, even for the same behavior.”
Of the four levels of behavioral issues, several intervention options like counseling or community service are offered before reaching suspension or expulsion.
“It’s really hard for me to grasp, allowing the minority to affect the safety of the majority and that’s what my issue is. I want them to look and maybe reevaluate,” Hill said.
Hill is hoping the district will consider re-evaluating the policy and has recently joined with other concerned parents in a Facebook group called SDParents4Safety.
One of the district’s main goals with the restorative discipline policy is to correct behavior while keeping students in the classroom and in school when possible. Expulsions require approval from the board of education.
“I think that they had the right intentions by saying these marginalized kids are being expelled and suspended more often, but unfortunately it’s backfired and it’s allowed them to just be flagrant and hurtful to the all the other kids just want to be in school,” Hill said.
FOX 5 reached out to the district Monday afternoon with additional questions about the policy, but a spokesperson said no one was available and pointed to the discipline policy.
Tuesday’s school board meeting begins at 5 p.m. and this policy is not on the agenda, but Hill and several other parents plan to speak during general public comment.
