Dec. 12, 2019 — Researchers in the UTSA College of Public Policy, assistant professor of social work Jelena Todic and criminal justice lecturer and restorative justice coordinator Robert Rico are joining forces with Up Partnership and three local school districts in a collaborative applied research project to rethink discipline in San Antonio schools.
The UTSA team is assisting Up Partnership with Rethinking Discipline Community of Practice implementation and process evaluation. The project, funded by the Strive Together Promising Practice Fund grant, is one of the My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio collaborative initiatives.
Up Partnership, a nonprofit and community-based organization that facilitates the MBKSA, is dedicated to ensuring that “all young people across Bexar County are ready for the future.” My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio is a network of cross sector partners, including UTSA, working together to change outcomes for boys and young men of color.
The Rethinking Discipline Community of Practice, which includes nine elementary, middle and high schools in San Antonio from Harlandale, Judson and San Antonio ISDs, is just one of the many initiatives aiming to reach this goal.
The Community of Practice aims to introduce, scale and accelerate implementation of restorative practices in San Antonio schools. Evidence indicates that school-based restorative justice can increase students’ sense of school connectedness and decrease suspensions/expulsions, ultimately increasing graduation rates and interrupting school-to-prison pipeline.
Rooted in the practices of the indigenous people of North America and New Zealand and the peace philosophy of the U.S. Mennonite community, restorative justice seeks to involve all impacted by wrongdoing to collectively repair harms and make things right. Any misconduct is a violation of people and relationships rather than a violation of the law or school rules. As a result, violations create obligations to address the needs of those who experienced harm, those responsible for harm, and the community.
Providing an opportunity for those most directly impacted by the harm to be involved in responding to and repairing the harm is a central feature of the restorative process. Ultimately, restorative justice is a relational process that integrates support with accountability.
The research team, which also includes an M.S.W. student, Norma Almazan, has been collecting quantitative and qualitative implementation process data, using it to inform monthly capacity building and problem solving sessions.
The final process evaluation report, due Feb. 1, 2020, will identify implementation facilitators and barriers and evaluate the local implementation efforts against the recommended best practices. The research team hopes the report will assist the local schools, districts and Up Partnership in ongoing strategic planning, resource allocation, and funding efforts.
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San Antonio’s treasured Asian Festival returns on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Downtown Campus. In observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month the one-day performance, entertainment, and food event will celebrate the diverse Asian diaspora represented in South Texas and San Antonio. Come and enjoy one of San Antonio’s premier family-friendly events, with hands-on activities and opportunities to learn through experience.
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Student Union Paseo, Main CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
