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discipline

Suspending progress? October 13, 2011 By: Sarah Karp The rules of Marshall’s in-school suspension room are written on the chalkboard at the front of the class: “No laughing. No cell phones. No talking. No putting your head down on the desk.” If a student finishes his or her work, a table is piled with books to read. There’s also a worksheet they can complete, designed to make them think about their behavior. At a big neighborhood high school, an in-school suspension room might seem par for the course. But at Marshall, the strategy has been tried before, failed before, and in recent years, didn’t exist. Read More \| (0) Comments	Aldermen to tell CPS to lower suspension rates October 07, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) told parents at a rally Friday morning that he intends to co-sponsor a resolution with Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) calling on CPS to lower suspension rates by 40 percent and to implement restorative justice practices. Read More \| (16) Comments
Peer jury takes hold at Hay Elementary November 22, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris Peer juries, the most common restorative justice practice in Chicago Public Schools, have existed in high schools since at least the 1990s. Now, Hay Elementary has a promising peer jury program launched with the help of the district’s pilot restorative justice program. Principal Wayne Williams says the peer jury began with strong teacher training and student recruitment. Read More \| (0) Comments	How restorative justice came--and quickly left November 22, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris Monroe Elementary Principal Edwin Rivera was excited to learn in fall 2008 that his school would receive grant money to start a restorative justice program. As a former counselor, Rivera is a strong believer in strategies that give schools an alternative to solve conflict and avoid suspensions. Read More \| (0) Comments
More resources, not more suspensions, is the real solution to discipline problems July 08, 2009 By: Lorraine Forte Recently, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman told school principals that the district plans to focus on data analysis as a first step toward improvement. There's one statistic that the district ought to immediately turn its attention to: suspensions and expulsions of African-American boys. Read More \| (0) Comments	A place of their own June 25, 2009 By: Sarah Karp When Lorenzo Russell walked into West Garfield Park’s Ryerson Elementary School in 2007, the impeccably dressed, soft-spoken man got a sinking feeling. The walls were pale beige and had no bulletin boards. The hallways were noisy and chaotic. Stretched across one wall were old class pictures in wood frames, many showing boys with bowl cuts and girls with blond ponytails. The pictures were an obvious disconnect from the students—most of them black, save for one or two Latinos. Read More \| (0) Comments
Coaching students June 25, 2009 By: John Myers Paul Bunch, a 6’11” junior at North Lawndale College Prep Charter School, blocks a lot of shots for the city’s top basketball team. The trouble is, he’s rarely on the court. Read More \| (0) Comments	Getting into trouble July 31, 2008 By: Sarah Karp It’s about 11 a.m. on a cold, gray December day and Derrick Green’s* incessant talking has gotten him in trouble once more. He’s been suspended three times already this school year, and now risks being put out again. But rather than go straight down to the disciplinarian’s office, as ordered, Derrick stops to slap hands with a group of boys who are hanging out in a corner. Suddenly, a young man comes barreling down the hall, signaling that a security guard is on the prowl. The boys, including Derrick, take off. Read More \| (0) Comments
Teaching kids to cope May 30, 2008 By: Sarah Karp By the time they arrive at school in the morning, their insides are often in knots. Perhaps they had a difficult time with a strung-out mother, are frustrated by a father’s absence or just experienced a rowdy and threatening bus ride. Until recently, students on the South Shore high school campus who faced such problems had someplace to turn. Teachers were in ongoing training to help them relate to students’ problems and students had access to community resources in their school designed to help them. But this year, much of that support disappeared. Read More \| (0) Comments

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