Cedar Rapids schools’ safety plan emphasizes restorative discipline

CEDAR RAPIDS — A new strategic plan to address safety and security in Cedar Rapids schools aims to increase a sense of belonging, decrease suspension rates and reduce disproportionate behavior infractions of students by race, special education and English language proficiency.

The plan — created by an advisory council of school staff and community members — includes three recommendations for how the district will achieve these goals:

The recommendations are a consolidation from an initial five recommendations and 11 guiding principles presented to the school board in July. While the school board at the time applauded the work, members asked the plan to be simplified.

The plan is expected to be brought back to the school board this fall for approval. In a presentation Monday to the board, the Safety Advisory Council asked that the board adopt the guiding principles, support professional development in budget decisions and for the superintendent to report on implementation and impact of the plan over time.

“We all know this matters so much and is time sensitive,” school board member Kaitlin Byers said. “This emphasis on belonging and connection, ensuring every student is connected to community and has a strong sense of self is something we want every student to feel during their time here and beyond.”

CR Schools CARE

The first recommendation is for the district to adopt four guiding principles — or CR Schools CARE.

Ellen Daye-Williams, a retired educator and member of the Safety Advisory Council, said the plan will begin to address “inequitable experiences and outcomes, including bias and misunderstanding” when it comes to student discipline.

“While we are working toward fairness and responsiveness, we’re not promoting permissiveness,” Daye-Williams said. “As we prioritize restorative practices, it’s critical we understand we set a high bar for responsibility and accountability for the learning community. It’s vital to addressing root cases of disruptions for learning, and we know we have quite a few of those in our classrooms.”

Restoration and discipline matrix

The Safety Advisory Council hopes to have a draft of the restoration and discipline matrix created in September to get feedback from school leaders. The matrix would provide clarity on how to respond to weapons, fighting or physical aggression and supports consistency in disciplinary responses across school buildings.

“We’re not prescribing based on something that happens. We want to make sure our principals have discretion to make decisions based on what they know about a student and an incident, but we want to provide some guide rails for them to act within, so we can create consistency across the district,” said Ryals Parker, Cedar Rapids schools’ executive director of behavior supports.

In October, November and December, the matrix will begin to be used by school staff and more feedback will be gathered before it’s fully implemented in January. The matrix will include a description of an incident, examples and a range of discipline and support responses.

Parker said there are “misconceptions” around restorative practices, with some people thinking it’s “in lieu of discipline.” But discipline is a part of restorative practices combined with repairing the harm caused and helping students learn and grow from their experiences, he said.

“When we think about some of the more intense disciplinary actions that happen in our district, those should be coupled with a very intense support,” Parker said.

Angel Ramirez, a youth peace facilitator with Kids First Law Center who works with students and staff at McKinley STEAM Academy and Metro High School, said restorative practices built into the matrix will work to build empathy, problem solving, communication and conflict-resolution skills.

By developing a matrix, the district would be providing a reference tool with responses that are restorative, trauma-informed and evidence based, Ramirez said.

“We recognize that while there is a desire for consistency and clarity, in actual practices the nuances of any given incident and the ways biases and misunderstandings get in the way usually mean that cookie-cutter decisions don’t always work,” Ramirez said. “We know there’s a balance between discretion and direction. We hope the matrix can provide guidance and clarity on where there’s room for a teacher or administrator to develop a creative response to a situation.”

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