Fix School Discipline Toolkit for Educators | Page 29

parent from a school team stood up and said, “Now,
I have been here this whole time and I want you to
know that I am going to hold all of you and all of us
accountable for implementing what we have learned
and getting the results that we all are hoping for.”
When the “Design” teams were created, we did not
dictate who the site leaders should bring for training,
but we did say bring your teacher leaders and your
parents who are outspoken and want to participate
fully and a classified staff member. Many of our
classified staff members live in our communities and
know all of the parents and students so they are a real
critical piece of the reform efforts.

What have been some of the challenges
during the first year of implementation?
Sup Bishop: Well, there had been 6 different
Superintendents in a 10 year period, so I think a lot
of people, including a lot of teachers, did not think
that I would stay. They had seen other reform efforts
come and go, so when we rolled out the training,
implementation did not appear to be a priority.
Some people were not happy that we were trying to
make such changes and they fought us. Even so,
in that first year, we reduced our overall suspension
rate by 35%. As part of the cultural shift in the
District, we had to make it clear that we were serious
about implementation and accountability around
implementation and that this was a structure and
system that we wanted to see in every school.

What are some of the systems that you
put in place in 2012-13 to help increase
implementation?
Sup. Bishop: Well, we offered 9 more trainings
for the entire district from Dr. Sprague. For nine
trainings, we spent a total of $27,000. This money
comes from our Title I district level funding. It is a
very small amount of money to pay for trainings that
will transform our school climate and culture.
We also added another level of accountability. Our
evaluation team has aligned our evaluation tools for
our school administrators with our strategic actions.
Of course, implementation of SWPBIS is just one of
the mechanisms by which our administrators will be
evaluated. In our “Evaluation Expectations” guide,
we have set forth the strategic actions, step-by-step,
that school site administrators should take each

month of the school year to implement PBIS. We will
be checking on implementation through site visits,
data review and other accountability mechanisms.
We have also invited our community partners and
parents to join us on those site visits and be a part
of this process, so that they are fully engaged in and
understand what the District is doing to reach its
goals.

What about outcomes? How are you
defining success?
Sup. Bishop: Well, we have a strong data system in
place, AERIES. We created a dashboard that all of
our indicators, including those around attendance,
achievement, school climate, and discipline.
Our Design teams at the individual schools are
responsible for monitoring and meeting monthly to
look at all of the data being collected and the bigger
picture and see what is happening and to make
ongoing and continuous improvements.
Dr. Derbigny: We also monitored the number of
Restorative Justice circles and Student Study Team
meetings being conducted at our school sites. The
Student Study Team process is one of our key
interventions for students who are struggling. We
also rolled out Restorative Justice, which is critical
to establishing school climates that address the
root cause of behaviors within the school setting
instead of just suspending students when they
misbehave. Restorative Justice is really about
student accountability and working with our students
and staff to transform negative cycles of behavior
and adult responses into positive relationships, so
it is a key tool for our young people who are really
struggling with persistent behavior issues.

What about disproportionality in the
suspensions being given to students of
color? How do you address that head on?
Sup. Bishop: This is the place that the work must
be done to change the outcomes. I believe that our
achievement gaps are expectation gaps. So, if we
hold all of our students to the same high expectations
that we have for our own children and for children in
more affluent communities, we will eliminate those
gaps. The ways we treat one another, whether we call
that unconscious bias or something else, if we can
focus on the outcomes in class and in school and say,

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