Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger, who ran as a moderate, signed a bill on Monday requiring public schools to consider “restorative disciplinary practices” like “peer mediation” or a “restorative circle” before suspending or expelling students, the Free Beacon’s Peter Hasson reports. That never works as policy, but was pushed under Barack Obama. It effectively removes educators’ authority to enforce discipline. Restorative justice doesn’t work and takes discipline out of educators’ hands, using a one-size-fits-all approach. It is a means of favoring some races to the point that they are allowed to misbehave without repercussions. The Beacon report The move follows controversial attempts to swap “exclusionary discipline”—what normal people call “discipline”—with “restorative justice” in liberal strongholds like New York City and Portland. It’s a far cry from the affordability-focused agenda on which the “centrist” Spanberger campaigned. The bill states that “no public elementary or secondary school student shall be suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school unless the school first considers at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice.” Examples include “mentoring,” “a peer jury,” “peer mediation,” “a restorative circle,” and “any other disciplinary practice” that “provides solutions tailored to students’ cultures” and “includes community members reflecting the cultural and demographic diversity of the school community.” Though the bill does not detail how to organize a “restorative circle,” a guide from the left-wing Center for Justice Innovation says such circles are “rooted in centuries-old indigenous practices” and include an “opening ceremony” like a “breathing exercise” before “passing around an object that serves as the talking piece” which “gives the speaker a chance to share openly and uninterrupted.” Communist Bill de Blasio tried it, allocating millions of dollars for “restorative justice.” It resulted in chronic absenteeism, which rose to 34.8% from an already abysmal 26.5%. Additionally, the number of incidents that required a response from the New York Police Department’s school safety division rose to 4,120 in the first quarter of 2025 from 1,200 in the first quarter of 2016. When discipline isn’t meted out, the violence escalates. Spanberger ran as a moderate, but appears to be a communist. The post Gov. Spanberger Is Taking Discipline Out of Educators’ Hands appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.