An agreement that ends a Portland, Oregon, teachers strike includes a sweeping call to provide “restorative justice” to students who tick the right boxes.
The strike was resolved late last month, according to CNN.
In the past, middle school and high school students could be suspended for at least five days in case of the most serious incidents of physical harm or threats of violence, according to KGW-TV in Portland.
Now, a team of staff psychologists, counselors and social workers will become involved, with more staff assigned as needed.
The district said it wanted to solve the problem that non-white students were suspended too often, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
“Black, Native American, and other students of color are referred out of class significantly more often,” the district’s Collective Bargaining Team said in a letter to families last month.
“Students receiving special education services also bear the burden of disproportionate discipline. This ‘discipline’ is far from the root of the term ‘discipline’: to instruct, train, and educate,” the letter said.
The new collective bargaining agreement requires that when a student exhibits “continuous disruptive behavior,” a “support plan” must be developed that can go as far as detention.