Could restorative justice bring education antagonists together?

Pat Schneider:

It's a painful irony for Ananda Mirilli that the School Board run she tried to use to call the community to come together to do better for Madison kids ended up embroiled in such controversy.

"I'm seeing an even bigger divide in the community, and I'm sad that we are in that place," Mirilli told me Wednesday. "But I'm hoping to continue to work to find healing in our community. We really need to have a conversation about the achievement gap."

Mirilli, a Latina who lost her bid for Seat 5 on the Madison School Board in the Feb. 18 primary, decided against a write-in campaign when primary winner Sarah Manski dropped out of the race just two days later. But Mirilli hasn't given up hope that the election -- despite Manski's surprise withdrawal and the allegations of dirty politics and hypocrisy it incited -- can yet be made an occasion to bring together people now sometimes working at odds to improve education in Madison schools.

And as the Restorative Justice Program manager at YWCA Madison, Mirilli is wondering if restorative justice principles might be the way to do it.

"I'm wondering if we could hold a circle -- not to find out the truth, but to see how we can move forward on this," Mirilli told me.

Mirilli says she was wrongly depicted by Manski as pro-voucher because of a supposed association with Kaleem Caire of the Urban League of Greater Madison. Caire on Wednesday resurrected allegations of double-dealing by leaders of Madison Teachers Inc. in negotiating his Madison Preparatory Academy charter proposal that was rejected by the School Board two years ago.

Much more on the 2013 Madison School Board elections, here.

I appreciate Schneider's ability to add links to her articles. This continues to be a rare event in Madison's traditional media circles.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 8, 2013 8:40 AM
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