The New York City Department of Education’s $100 million push to implement “restorative justice” instead of stricter school discipline has been a bust — with violent incidents doubling to 4,200 reports this year and “chronic absenteeism” spiking to a whopping 35%, a new study claims.
The major shift in policy at city public schools started in 2015 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, when the DOE began requiring principals to obtain approval from the central office before suspending students in grades K–2.
But “what began as an alternative became a mandate, forcing administrators to abandon exclusionary options regardless of school context,” Jennifer Weber, an education behavioral researcher with the Manhattan Institute think tank, wrote in the report, released Thursday.
“NYC’s implementation of RJ has failed to achieve its promises,” Weber said. “The changes undermined teacher authority and weakened classroom order rather than improving school climate and advancing equity.”
Restorative justice is the education establishment’s equivalent of alternatives to jail programs for juveniles and criminals — focusing on mediation, conflict resolution, relationship building and harm reduction “circles” of students and teachers, aimed at defusing and preventing misbehavior, fights and violence.
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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