‘Restorative justice’ policies encourage unacceptable behavior

Re “A Path Forward: For the good of our kids, let’s fund restorative justice” (July 27): The news article on “restorative justice” as offered by the San Diego Unified School District lacks meaning. As a retired teacher, I have always had a concern about the failure of restorative justice. In too many instances, I had concerns about its efficacy.

Common sense says when there is no discipline associated with unacceptable behavior, there will be no reason to change that behavior. In one incident, a student was caught with a 12-inch knife in his backpack. The parent disagreed with the suspension and it was rescinded if the student picked up the backpack from the office after school. No district discipline was offered. In too many instances, there were no indications the student understood the problem.

Restorative justice should be relabeled “restorative enablement.”

— Larry Mikulanis, La Mesa