Dive Brief:
- Jackson County Youth Court Judge Sharon Sigalas sends letters to the four local school districts in her region every year, outlining the limited criteria schools can use to refer students to her and asking them to handle dress code violations and behavior issues themselves.
- According to The Hechinger Report, youth court officials often ended up booking kids who wouldn’t have been held if they had been picked up by parents sooner, and while local superintendents were originally upset by the idea of keeping disruptive kids in school, the new policy contributed to a drop in the number of minors referred to the county’s courts.
- At Pascagoula High School, one of the most frequent senders of juveniles just a few years ago, Principal Anthony Herbert says his staff now works to build trust at all levels of the organization and improve communication.
Dive Insight:
Nearly every state in the country — outside of New Hampshire and Massachusetts — have increased per capita spending on corrections at a faster rate than per pupil spending on schools. In July, U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. urged states to do “what works,” investing on education at the front end, to avoid the high cost of incarceration when kids get off track.
Many schools have adopted restorative justice practices, shifting their discipline policies from ones that push kids out for disruptive behavior to ones that keep kids in. Prizing communication and reintegration into classrooms, restorative justice creates space for students to continue their educations. Juvenile detention generally does not offer high-quality learning opportunities, meaning students are behind when they get back to class. Partnerships with local judges could be another important way to keep kids on track.