Portland Public Schools to Determine Disciplinary Measures on the Basis of Race and Gender – By Evan Poellinger (CNS News) / Dec 8, 2023
Portland (Oregon) Public Schools faculty will be adjudicating discipline by weighing students’ racial and gender identities under a new collective bargaining agreement. The agreement states that its purpose is “to minimize the use of exclusionary discipline and to maximize instructional time, while repairing harm done within the school community.”
The agreement further delineates that the disciplinary plan “utilizes research based in racial equity and social justice, restorative justice, and trauma informed.”
The disciplinary plan reveals in detail what it means to be “informed” by racial equity and social justice. In the case of “continuous disruptive student behavior,” the plan authorizes the school to create a “support plan” for the student. This plan “must take into consideration the impact of issues related to the student’s trauma, race, gender identity/presentation, sexual orientation, disability, social emotional learning, and restorative justice as appropriate for the student.”
