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District unveils draft Safe and Inclusive Schools guide; staff plan training and restorative practice rollout
Summary
Consultants and district staff introduced a draft handbook addressing identity-based harm and hate-motivated behavior, proposing tiered training, restorative responses and a monitoring framework; board members pressed for specifics on timelines and sanctions and asked for community input prior to adoption.
District leaders presented a draft Safe and Inclusive Schools Response Guide that lays out a districtwide framework for preventing and responding to identity-based harm and hate-motivated behavior.
Nicole Anderson, the consultant who helped compile two years of community engagement, said the guide draws on site-level input, student voices and restorative-practice principles. “We turned our work into really making sure that it centered around what’s best for students,” Anderson told trustees as she described a handbook that pairs prevention, consistent response protocols and a curriculum of staff training.
The guide includes tiered responses from universal education (Tier 1) to more intensive restorative interventions (Tier 3). It also proposes a response timeline that would require a documented follow-up education step within three school days after an incident. Staff advised that student advocates and site administrators recommended the three-day window to ensure timely responses; some trustees said they would prefer even faster follow-up.
Board members pressed on operational details: how repeat violations should be tracked across middle and high school years, what an extracurricular ineligibility penalty (for a third offense) would mean for students who don’t participate in athletics or activities, and how the district will document and monitor outcomes. Staff said the handbook is intended to be a living document: a training rollout (modules for classified staff, teachers, principals and activities directors), an implementation schedule and monitoring through the district data system (Synergy) are planned before the guide returns for formal adoption.
Students and principals who participated in the guide’s development told the board it can change campus culture. Arjun, who introduced himself as the incoming student trustee, said the guide “provides ways for students to help create an inclusive environment” and urged staff to emphasize student leadership in the rollout.
What’s next: The guide was opened for public comment; staff will gather feedback and return a revised version alongside related policies (including potential revisions to Board Policy 5145.9) for board review on June 23. The district plans multi-year training and annual review of both the handbook and implementation data.
