News & Commentary

Demand to Learn recently took a team of youth, moms, educators and community organizers to Denver to learn about the restorative practices (RP) that have transformed a school there from a prison pipeline to a model of smart school discipline. I was lucky enough to attend and learned far more than I imagined I would. I thought I would be learning about their discipline procedures and I did learn about that, but what struck me was that the majority of restorative practices are not about how to deal with conflict and rule infractions but how to build relationships and create a culture of caring and respect.

On January 16, Demand to Learn allies accompanied me as we delivered over 2,500 petition signatures to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools and demanded they stand up for families across Arizona. The signatures were gathered after an ACLU of Arizona report, Schools Choosing Students, was released in December that revealed hundreds of public charter schools across the state have enrollment policies that are unlawful or discriminatory.

A few days ago, parents, student advocates, and educators came together for a policy summit at Balsz Community Center in Phoenix to develop concrete policies that will help alleviate the problem of schools pushing kids out of the classroom with harsh, and often biased, disciplinary practices.