Courtesy of the Hollister School District:
The Hollister School District is pleased to announce that the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution regarding school safety and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline at their August 25, 2020 meeting.
The Resolution addresses the Board’s belief that equality and justice for all is at the heart of the district’s efforts to educate students. Superintendent Diego Ochoa said, “Our Board of Trustees has taken a decisive step towards adopting new strategies to implement restorative discipline strategies and discontinue the overuse of school suspensions. Doing so, in my opinion, will help dismantle the school to prison pipeline.”
The Resolution calls for the following actions to take place in the 2020-2021 school year:
Convening a community-majority Task Force to develop a common definition for “school safety” and
anti-racist school discipline, no later than November 1,2020, to address the following and provide
recommendations to the Board by February 1, 2021:
The Task Force shall:
- Be composed of key stakeholders including a representative from the LCAP, CAC,
DELAC, HESTA, CSEA, District Administration, and up to five members from the community at large. The Task Force shall review suspension data to evaluate areas of concern relating to marginalized or over-represented groups.
- Recommend strategies for enhancing school safety and student well-being through adopting strategies to devote future funds towards restorative practices, and other interventions to the students and campus community.
- Recommend on-going training for all district staff in the implementation of restorative practices, positive behavior intervention supports, and cultural competencies.
- Recommend strategies to utilize funding that was previously designated for School Resource Officers to be utilized for counseling, restorative practices, and anti-racism efforts.
Trustee Carla Torres-DeLuna strongly advocated for the adoption of such a resolution at May and June meetings of the Board of Trustees. Superintendent Diego Ochoa said, “I’m proud to work alongside a School Board that takes proactive steps to publicly call out the importance of equity and access for all students.” The School Board recently also recently adopted Resolution #3 denouncing racism, supporting Black Lives Matter, supporting equity, safety and supporting the well-being of black people. For more information, contact Superintendent Diego Ochoa at [email protected]
