Education moving toward restorative justice

In a sign of hope for the new year, journalists report that schools and colleges are moving toward incorporating restorative justice programs to manage conflict and rule-breaking. Sometimes these programs are called restorative practices instead of restorative justice because the students involved are not part of the criminal justice system.

Portrait of Justice, by Andrew Ratto via Wikimedia Commons

In fact, restorative practices are meant to offer an alternative to using police on campus or relying solely on potentially slow, re-traumatizing civil complaint systems. And here’s more good news: restorative practices seem to work.

Check out these two articles: Cal Matters reports that some California colleges offer voluntary restorative practices as an option for managing a complaint of sexual assault instead of going through the whole Title IX complaint process. And In These Times profiled Des Moines, Iowa high schools that replace police officers with restorative practices. Both give background on the broader movement toward restorative practices in education, and it’s inspiring. Restorative practices can be more compassionate instead of punitive, holistic instead of compartmentalized.

If you’re wondering what restorative justice or restorative practices are, read the articles. You’ll be glad you did.

Elsewhere

A record number of civil rights complaints deluged the federal Office for Civil Rights in 2022 — almost 19,000, breaking the previous high of roughly 16,000 2016.

In a major ruling affecting transgender students, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals declared that requiring students to use bathrooms assigned by biological sex is not discriminatory. A former teacher fired by Valley Christian High School, Chandler, Ariz. sued the school, claiming the dismissal was retaliation against him for speaking up on behalf of LGBTQ students.

St. Francis High School, Buffalo, N.Y. appointed a man principal even though an investigation found that he had fondled a male student’s genitals at his previous job. Despite mandatory training for staff, there’s no uniformity in how Bellingham (Wash.) Public Schools handle complaints of sexual harassment and assault. Oxnard (Calif.) Police fielded 21 reports of sexual misconduct by high school students recently, closing 19 investigations so far.

On the up side

Really, read this article on restorative practices, and this one. If we can interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline that’s part of our current system of policing schools, that’s good news.

Where you’ll find me

Tuesday, February 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m. CT — I’m honored to be speaking at Iowa State University, giving the 35th Mary Louise Smith Chair Lecture hosted by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. I’ll meet with students in the late afternoon and speak at 7:00 p.m. in the Durham Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30 p.m. ET — In the first of a series of bookstore events I’ll be doing in March for Women’s History Month, I’ll be at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H., the capitol of the Granite State. We’ll talk politics and education and, of course, Title IX.

Thursday, March 23, 5:30 p.m. ET — I’ll speak and sign books at the wonderfully named Bedlam Book Cafe in Worcester, Mass. Come have a bite and talk books with me.

Saturday, March 25, 2:00 p.m. ET — Meet me at Tatnuck Bookseller and Cafe in Westborough, Mass., and bring a friend!

Sunday, March 26, 3-5 p.m. — As part of the Be The Change series, I’ll be speaking at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass. with special guests from Know Your IX and the Women’s Sports Foundation. Each group will receive a donation equivalent to 20% of book sales during the event. I hope you can join us if you’re in the area. If not, please consider supporting these organizations.

*** Would you like to set up an in-person or Zoom session with me for your organization or book club? Reach me through my Contact page.***

You can sit in on my 50-minute conversation about Title IX and 37 Words with Georgia Institute of Technology President Angel Cabrera, part of his “Conversations with Cabrera” series:

More online talks: Check out a video of my 25-minute talk at wonderful Left Bank Books in St. Louis. You can watch my six-minute interview on the Bridge Street morning show on WSYR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y. Or, watch the video of an October 19, 2022 online conversation about Title IX and 37 Words hosted by the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Women in Law; find it here.

The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5, which introduces Title IX’s application in the movement against sexual violence. I published an article in the Washington Post’s Made by History section, this one on “The true mother of Title IX. And why it matters now more than ever.” The Christian Science Monitor included 37 Words in two articles — a cover story on “Title IX at 50” and a sidebar examining the racial gap among women athletes in colleges. Read about the Supreme Court’s history of curtailing Title IX and other civil rights laws in my article in The Washington Post Made by History section. The Washington Monthly gave 37 Words a fine review — check it out. See other previous appearances and media coverage of 37 Words listed here.