School District Puts Misbehaving Kids Through Diversity Trainings Instead of Suspending Them

A California school district encouraged its staff during a September 2022 workshop to send misbehaving students to diversity, empathy and “implicit bias” trainings instead of suspending or expelling them, according to documents obtained through a public records request by Parents Defending Education (PDE) and provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Poway Unified School District offered staff training on its “restorative practice” within the district, which includes focusing “on repairing harm rather than receiving punishment for breaking a rule,” according to documents obtained through a public records request by PDE. The staff training, which promotes an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) education program, offered alternative punishments to suspending students, including courses on “care” and “hate” behavior, as well as lessons on empathy and diversity. 

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The training given to staff notes that the “restorative response team,” which it states is aimed at addressing “incidents of bias,” is looking for more members who are able to address sensitive issues related to race and identity, the documents show. The presentation includes a chart that shows the percentage of members who are “comfortable” discussing issues of “Anti-Blackness,” “Anti-Hispanic/Latinx” and “Anti-LGBTQ+” issues.

The presentation promotes the ADL’s, a left-wing “anti-hate” activist organization, “No Place For Hate” campaign. The ADL’s “No Place For Hate” 2020-2021 coordinator handbook and resource guide shows that moments of “anti-bias” such as microaggressions, bullying or slurs can eventually lead to genocide.

The presentation offers district forms that can be used as an “alternative to suspension” of a student. The forms give several options to be used in place of punishment including sending a student to a “Caring Connections Session” and allowing the student to assist a custodian for several days.

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The program used for students in place of punishment aims to teach students “empathy and understanding” as well as promote “restorative justice principles” in the classroom through a five-hour course, the documents show. The course includes seminars such as “restorative practice overview and self reflection” and “building empathy and celebrating diversity.”

Students are assigned the five-hour course as a “consequence to a hate behavior incident,” the presentation states.

The “empathy and awareness” lesson, obtained by PDE, teaches attendees that there is a “dominant group” in society that has certain privileges.

“Does race play a certain role?” the presentation asks in relation to the “dominant group.” “Does gender play a certain part at all?” “What does it mean to be white in the United States?”

The empathy presentation includes a video on “implicit bias” which it defines as “an unconscious attitude or preference.” Attendees are taught the definition of other keywords such as “prejudice,” “stereotyping” and “discrimination,” the presentation shows.

The presentation concludes with additional reading assignments for attendees including an article titled “A Starbucks arrest shows how black Americans are robbed of their power,” an article titled “A woman said she saw burglars. They were just black Airbnb guests,” and a third piece called “Weight bias and discrimination: A challenge for healthcare providers.”

Quizzes and additional presentations were accompanied in the documents given to PDE, including a worksheet titled “comparing blacks to monkeys,” the documents show. {snip}

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