Pros
professional development (I've never seen anything quite like it and it almost makes one look past the negative aspects of this network). Teachers will give their right arm for students.
Cons
They call their approach to discipline 'restorative' and I believe this shift was in response to negative publicity regarding harsh discipline practices in '14 . I say this because their approach to restorative discipline is not consistent with its foundation. Restorative discipline in this network is: to place the kids with disciplinary violations in one room (to the point where there wouldn't be enough chairs), to require that students sit facing forward in their desk surrounded by cubicles without turning around to make eye-contact with other human beings (they received point deductions for doing so), to provide only two bathroom breaks; to mandate a zero noise level. The BI person showed me a sheet students had to complete during their stay that involved them being required to take responsibility for whatever occurred without any real healing conversations with staff or administration who might have been involved in the incident. It was a requirement that this occur but there was no accountability measure in place for us to follow through with those conversations. I did but most teachers did not. Students were sent to the room for uniform violations, putting their heads on desks - minor offenses that could lead to a full day in the room - can't remember what they called this room . It actually simulated jail for a bunch of at risk students - harmful. I grew up in the Northwest. My parents are social justice advocates and marched with Dr. King. I am white and consider myself a social justice advocate. Conversations about race rarely happened and the implications of not doing so in a school with a majority black student population is damaging to society as a whole. Teachers, staff and administration are well-intended. Because of the networks inability to seriously look at its blind spots they are actually harming students under the guise of helping. While the PD was well developed and implemented with fidelity, it seemed robotic and inauthentic. There was a cult-like approach to team-building which was kind of creepy.
