The Portland Public Schools (PPS) system has instituted a policy that will require school employees to consider a student’s race, gender identity, and sexual orientation when determining disciplinary actions.
This policy shift comes after a collective bargaining agreement between the school district and its teachers. PPS staff were previously on strike since the beginning of November due to disagreements about teacher pay, class sizes, and more.
According to the new policy, “the superintendent or designee shall review disciplinary disparities apparent by race, gender, LGBTQ, plus ID, special education status or other relevant categories with individual building leaders at least annually and plan with them building level responses aimed at reducing disparities.”
Under the agreement, disciplinary behavior triggers a “support plan,” which must consider the impact of “issues related to a student’s trauma, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, social-emotional learning, and restorative justice, as appropriate for the student.” The district’s new approach further states that it implements a “Racial Equity and Social Justice, Restorative Justice, and Trauma Informed” program designed to prevent discipline deemed exclusionary.
This policy initiative follows PPS’s contemplation of implementing “equitable grading practices“ aimed at addressing racial disparities and inequities in grading. Among the proposed changes is the elimination of assigning “zeros” as a grade for students caught cheating or failing to submit assignments. The intention behind this was to address “racial disparities” and “inequities” in grading.
Portland Public Schools, which has roughly 45,000 students, continues to adhere to the radical left’s belief that students of a so-called “protected group” should be treated with privileges that white students are not. Even if these administrators have the best of intentions, they fail to do the job that they were hired to do: educate students and prepare them for the best possible future.
