On Tuesday, City Schools of Decatur released the findings of an independent evaluator who looked into how the district responded to a teacher using a racial slur in class.

"We need programs and interventions that teach and model skills that will change behavior. Restorative practices are what can transform and guide the prosocial behaviors we want for our children and our communities."

“As a teacher in Wayne and a resident and mayor here in Montclair, I could not be prouder of the leadership that the Montclair Education Association, the Montclair Board of Education, and our students, teachers, educational support professionals, and administrators have taken in showing what restorative justice looks like in action,” [President] Spiller said.

Despite a dramatic decline in suspensions as students moved to remote learning during the pandemic, Black children and those in special education were disciplined far more often than white students and those in general education, according to a recent New York University study.

Each time we choose to draw near, rather than to send away, we are actively building a new way to be in community together. As we model this way of being in schools, we are shining a light and showing a way for what can be possible in the community as a whole.

A parent shares how restorative practices enhanced his relationship with his child and students.