District Position on "Keep Separate" Practices
In order to better align our practices with our Strategic Plan initiative to create a welcoming environment for our students, we are moving away from our previously held practice of maintaining “keep separate” (sometimes referred to as “keep away”) lists generated from parent or family feedback.
There are two key problems with “keep separate” practices:
- It often targets our underrepresented population of students.
- It fails to teach students skills they need to navigate social interactions in and out of school.
The District will continue to support instruction in the social and emotional domain, and in the development of problem-solving skills through various means, including morning meetings, advisory classes, and restorative conversations.
For students where interactions have led to confirmed cases of bullying, the school will maintain a practice of keeping students in separate learning spaces to the greatest degree possible.
The District will continue to take feedback from parents on the practice of “keep together” lists, which is a different practice. We consider these requests in placement decisions. This practice does not mean that we will be able to place students with their preferred peers, but it will be weighed in the totality of considerations when making placement decisions for students.
