School takes up about a third of a student’s day. With so many personalities and personal circumstances coming together, sometimes, the tension spills over and starts a fight.
“He said something I didn't like,” said Oceanside High sophomore Jesus Ramos, remembering a fight he got in two years ago. “And then I was saying something back, and then we just went from there. I threw the first punch.”
There’s almost always more to the story that shows where the behavior came from. For Ramos, he was overwhelmed at home.
“My mom just got divorced from my dad,” he said. “So, I was also moving away from my dad, coming over here and separating from my family and all that.”
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The Oceanside Unified School District used to lean on a zero-tolerance policy that could suspend students on their first offense, until administration realized that wasn’t working. Instead of suspending Ramos, they tried a restorative justice approach instead.
“We can address issues at lower levels, with a more thoughtful consequence,” Jordy Sparks, the district’s executive director for diversity, equity, inclusion and student supports, said. “A thoughtful way to hold students accountable doesn't have to lead to a suspension right away.”
It’s a voluntary program that allowed Ramos to be with a trained teacher for a few days and helped him reflect on what he did and how it affected others. All of this happened while still finishing his assignments.
Local
“They return back to campus with a prepared presentation,” Sparks said. “I would call it a prepared presentation where they sit down with an assistant principal and they walk through that restorative process to say, ‘Here's what happened. Here's why I was thinking the way that I was thinking at the time.'"
It’s been a year since Ramos’ last fight. He got his grades up and is thinking about joining the football team.
“Some students maybe just need that little push because that's what I needed,” he said.
Oceanside High has seven students on suspension right now. Three years ago, when the program started, that number was 205.
The district funds its restorative reset program with grant money from organizations like the National Conflict Resolution Center.
