Restore, Then Reconnect

(Opinion) Imagine that you are a middle-school teacher working with 25 students in a Connecticut online classroom. One student, Marcus, who had marginal school attendance in the previous years but no history of harmful behaviors, signs in to your online class occasionally and is mostly quiet. Suddenly, in the middle of one of your lessons, Marcus plays a popular but inappropriate track called ​“WAP.” 

The lyrics are X‑rated. The other students’ reactions range from loud laughter to turning off their own videos.

You are shocked, and you hit the online student eject icon on your computer. Marcus is locked out of the class for at least 40 minutes. Even with Marcus gone, you are not able to return to the lesson, as other students keep commenting about the situation.

A subsequent review of Marcus’s attendance record shows that he hasn’t attended school for three days since the removal. A home visit reveals a traumatic event has occurred in Marcus’s family life. Living in poor conditions, Marcus (a composite drawn from several real-life New Haven students), his mother and three younger siblings suffered an unexpected loss related to Covid-19. Barely making ends meet, Marcus’s mom has not sought any support services.

Online or remote learning in the middle of a pandemic is breeding new behavior problems that disrupt learning, which can result in students being banned from accessing their virtual classrooms either temporarily or long term. While the full extent of these virtual problems is not yet well documented, the issues exist. Therefore, schools and communities must be proactive and prepared to avert misconduct as well as the potential use of removal from learning before both become widespread. 

Studies have long documented the devastating impact of suspensions and expulsions. In the era of Covid-19, this could mean locking students out of an already stressful and burdensome online learning system. Indeed, some school districts around the country have developed formal systems to suspend and expel students from online learning.

Known as ​“exclusionary practices,” these sanctions have been identified by research as a serious problem across the United States that disproportionately impacts students of color. The research reveals that when exclusionary penalties are imposed, students of color are treated differently from their white peers. Studies have revealed that these sanctions are more frequently imposed in poor, urban communities and, Black students, especially Black boys and special education students, absorb the brunt of this penalty. A national analysis conducted by the United States General Accounting Office disclosed that ​“Black students, boys, and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in K‑12 public schools. These disparities were widespread and persisted regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of public school attended. For example, Black students accounted for 15.5 percent of all public school students but represented about 39 percent of students suspended from school — an overrepresentation of about 23 percentage points.” A study in Oregon revealed English Language Learners at the high school level are also at higher risk for removal from learning.

The New Haven Public Schools district has made substantial progress in reducing exclusionary practices. According to the Connecticut State Department of Education, New Haven saw a 23 percent drop in its out-of-school suspensions and a near 50 percent reduction in expulsions between the 2014 – 15 and the 2018 – 19 school years.

This is not coincidental. School teachers, administrators and district management joined with city officials to launch restorative justice practices, a vital component of social emotional learning, to help reduce exclusion and disengagement.

Around the same time, city, district, police and community organizations came together to launch YouthStat, which identified students most at risk for behavior problems and provided root cause support.

In addition, the Trauma Coalition has been working on expanding trauma-informed practices within schools, and parents, teachers, and school administrators and community partners worked together to revise the district’s policy on school discipline known as The Code of Conduct.

This past summer, when city schools remained closed for in-person learning, NHPS launched ​“Restore and Reconnect (R and R)” in its virtual summer school, which was developed to engage youth at risk for disengagement. Restore and Reconnect represents an important and necessary shift from traditional in-school and out-of-school suspension models and helps in reducing the impact of exclusion.

Through daily engagement with community building opportunities, students are taught coping mechanisms to handle emotional triggers. This increases a needed sense of belonging to those at risk of disengagement.

The process also teaches cultural competency and helps both students and adults to better understand the lens each participant is using to make sense of the world.

The Restore and Reconnect model starts with the premise ​“Kids do well if they can,” based on strategies that can be found in the book Treating Explosive Kids. The Restore and Reconnect approach requires training and implementation with fidelity. A research-based model, this practice helps schools use an early-warning structure to identify and respond to problems before they occur and to reduce exclusionary practices and the associated harm that they bring upon our children.

Already beleaguered by the high incidents of illnesses and loss of family members associated with Covid-19, New Haven students like Marcus need to be identified for support before we see signs of behavioral concerns. We need to be vigilant in locating the families who need help and offer the community based supports, restorative strategies, and the tangible family care coordination services, which are available in our neighborhoods.

Gemma Joseph Lumpkin is a doctoral student at Sacred Heart University; she serves as the chief of youth, family and community engagement for New Haven Public Schools. A New Haven resident, she is the mother of two pre-school-aged children.