Why Milford school board voted to remove restorative discipline 1 year after added

The Milford Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to remove restorative practices from the student code of conduct for all grades.

The decision comes just one school year after the decision to add restorative practices — an emphasis on community-building to discourage behavioral issues through accountability rather than solely punishment — into the student handbook in the first place.

The practice is meant to address the disparities in discipline that disproportionately affect students of color, low-income students and students with disabilities.

The district said in a statement that it made the decision to remove restorative practices from the handbook to "align the codes between the elementary and secondary levels as well as to streamline the content and align the terms."

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"We were certain to include a variety of stakeholders on our committees and throughout the process to ensure we continue to support our children in their learning while maintaining a safe and secure learning environment," the district said. "We are confident these efforts will result in a more user-friendly policy for all that use it.“

Milford School District is just one of nearly half of the state’s public and charter school districts that over-suspended at least one demographic of students in the 2021 school year, according to the Department of Education.

In 2022, over 13% of Black students in the Milford School District received out-of-school suspensions, compared to just 5% of their white peers. The district also has a higher overall suspension rate than the statewide average.

The goal of restorative practice

Public commenters raised questions about the speed of the decision at the board meeting, questioning whether the district had given the discipline method enough of a chance to actually become effective.

Restorative practice experts and advocates have previously shown that it can take time to build up the sense of community that forms the backbone of the discipline method, especially after students spent years away from in-person learning due to the pandemic.

Milford High School teacher Jennifer Parfitt said Monday that she and her colleagues were not taught about the restorative justice model until the beginning of last school year.

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"If we choose to implement a new model of discipline, we need to give it a chance to work," Parfitt said.

The now-removed portion of the codes of conduct stated that the district "believes it is important for all students and staff to build positive relationships with one another as this produces the best academic, social and emotional outcomes," and that "restorative practices proactively focus on relationships and increasing students' sense of belonging."

The section of the code also encouraged staff to use restorative practices when possible.

"If you look at what's happening at our high school, traditional discipline does not work," Parfitt told the school board. "If it did, we wouldn't be having the problems that we do."

School board members did not provide any comment or discussion on the issue during the board meeting before voting to remove restorative practices from the code of conduct.

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Milford School District eliminates restorative discipline. Here's why