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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Yvel N., Student from Young Women Leadership School of the Bronx, on Restorative Justice Funding
7:23:16
ยท
127 sec
Yvel N., an 11th-grade student from the Young Women Leadership School of the Bronx, advocated for increased funding for restorative justice practices in schools. She shared personal experiences of how these practices have helped resolve conflicts and improve school environments, emphasizing the need for stable and reliable funding.
- Yvel highlighted a severe fight incident where the lack of immediate safety agent response led to teachers getting hurt, and how her training as a peer mediator helped in the aftermath.
- She stressed the need for $16 million in direct school funding for proper training in restorative justice practices and $80 million for 500 schools to have RJ coordinators.
- Yvel emphasized that restorative justice practices have led to lower suspension rates, reduced racial disparities, and improved mental health in school communities.
Yvel Nunez
7:23:16
Good afternoon chairperson and members of the committee.
7:23:19
Thank you for having me here.
7:23:20
I am Yvel Nunez, an eleventh grader at the Young Women Leadership School of the Bronx in District 7.
7:23:25
I am here with Network and Dignity in Schools to advocate for more funding for restorative justice practices in schools.
7:23:32
As student as a student who's involved in the peer mediation program started by my my restorative justice team, I have seen firsthand how students are being helped and how arguments have been avoided by just talking and understanding each other.
7:23:43
Make sure how many more fights and suspensions can be avoided if we have stable and reliable funding for these programs.
7:23:50
Early this year, I witnessed one of the worst fights of my life.
7:23:52
It took forty minutes for a safety agent to come to the classroom and by the time they got there, teachers, educators already had deescalated the situation and even some got hurt.
7:24:02
Since I was there and officially trained as peer mediator, I was asked to help mediate discussion between the students while we waited for parents to come.
7:24:10
Because of the severity of the fight, we had external help who met once a week for an hour to talk with the students separately and together while they were suspended.
7:24:19
This wasn't enough, not enough time, not enough dedication,
UNKNOWN
7:24:24
which
Yvel Nunez
7:24:26
led to another fight that happened right after the students came back to school.
7:24:30
Apart from that, there was little to no reintegration of the students into school life, which caused a lot of tension between groups leading to more fights.
7:24:37
That's why we need this funding to be baseline.
7:24:39
We need to know for certain that schools have the resources to avoid these situations.
7:24:43
We need $16,000,000 directly to schools to have teachers, deans, and community volunteers to be properly trained in restorative justice practices so they can handle these situations more effectively.
7:24:53
80,000,000 to 500 schools have RJ coordinators which can relieve the workload from counselors who take up multiple roles leading them to be overworked.
7:25:01
We have seen how these practices work and not only have they improved school socially, but suspensions rates have been lower, racial disparities have been reduced, and improvement in mental health within communities have been increased.
7:25:13
But in order for this to happen, you committee members have to make sure that this funding is baseline and that their resources are here for everyone.
7:25:20
It's up to you to prove that you care about the students in New York City.