Rocky Mount elementary school changing how students are disciplined
A Rocky Mount elementary school is working to change the way their students view learning and overhaul the discipline process to target negative behaviors — not children. A new position called a Restorative Justice Specialist is leading the charge to make students feel safe at Baskerville Elementary, and the school says it’s already paying off.
On the first day of the new school year, a crowd lined the sidewalk out in front of Baskerville Elementary in Rocky Mount. They were community leaders holding a parade for the incoming students to celebrate the first day of class. Students arrived to a crowd that included police officers, firemen and the mayor, as well as a bubble blowing machine and even a saxophone player.
It was all the handiwork of Jaquez Murphy, a new teacher with a title that may sound unfamiliar: Restorative Justice Specialist.
“We just look at discipline from a different approach,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that after looking at their disciplinary data last year, the school found that many of the same students were acting out repeatedly and suspensions weren’t making a difference.
Principal Kimberly Newkirk decided to try something different. That’s where Mr. Murphy came in.
“Now we recognize from day one or the first week that students may have some problems with their behavior,” Murphy said. “Then we build some relationships with those students, we find out what their interests are, and we build towards that.”
Instead of sending students home, Murphy works to connect with them. First in school by talking through conflicts and making them feel safe, but the relationship also goes beyond the classroom.
“So if they have a basketball game, we’re showing up, if they’re at cheerleading practice, we’re showing up to support our kids,” Murphy said. “They feel that we’re the people they can go to when they don’t have that at home, so like we’re their safe haven.”
Murphy said since he started at the end of the 2021-22 academic year, the school had already started making strides.
Administrators felt fewer students have been struggling with ongoing behavior, and Murphy hoped data from this school year would support that conclusion.
The parade was partly a launch of that effort: setting the tone for kids to become excited about going to school every day.
“I want every child in this building to feel like they have an adult that they can trust, and that when they leave this school, they know that Mr. Murphy or Ms. Newkirk or Mr. Perry, that someone cared about them,” Murphy said. “If I can get that, then I’ve won.”
