Students in Aurora schools are less likely to be expelled or suspended than they were five years ago, but despite years of work to change inequities, black students are still more likely to be disciplined than their peers.
“Thatap a continuing point of frustration for all of us,” said Rico Munn, Aurora schools superintendent. “We are happy to see our practices have gotten stronger, but the kind of consistency of that gap is a challenge.”
Itap not a particularly unique problem, but in the school district of Aurora, one of the most diverse cities in Colorado, the impact from the disparity can be magnified and can have an effect on academic achievement, something the district is trying to improve.
Aurora Public Schools has slowly made changes for years in an effort to close the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. Some of the districtap more in-depth work has been done with the Denver Foundation at 13 schools starting in 2013. (The foundation is a financial supporter of Chalkbeat.) The foundation has connected schools to nonprofits, including some that help school leaders use restorative justice.
But this year, in a new effort to curb those persistent gaps, instead of just helping schools use restorative practices, the foundation has recruited a well-known teacher training group to help teachers in one school incorporate restorative philosophy into their classrooms.
The foundation also is bringing together school leaders and other educators to have “uncomfortable” conversations about how a studentap race affects how educators perceive their behavior.
Read the
