Portland Public Schools to factor in gender identity, race into school discipline: 'Completely backwards'

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Portland Public Schools to factor in gender identity, race into school discipline

The hosts of 'Outnumbered' discuss how schools in Oregon are going to implement a new equity discipline policy

School staff at Oregon-based Portland Public Schools (PPS) will now be required to consider a disruptive student's race, gender identity and sexual orientation before disciplining them. 

A new collective bargaining agreement between Portland Public Schools and its teachers includes a change in policy regarding disciplinary actions.

Furthermore, "continuous disruptive behavior" will now be addressed by a "support plan."

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The new disciplinary policy stems from the new collective bargaining agreement between Portland Public Schools and the teachers union.  (AP Photo/Claire Rush, File)

According to the agreement, the support plan "must take into consideration the impact of issues related to the student's trauma, race, gender identity/presentation, sexual orientation, disability, social-emotional learning, and restorative justice as appropriate for the student."

The agreement also says that the district utilizes a research-based "Racial Equity and Social Justice, Restorative Justice, and Trauma Informed" program to reduce exclusionary discipline practices. 

Reacting to the latest development on "Outnumbered," Rebeccah Heinrichs, a mom of five, said that the policy is "completely backwards" and that there is "implied racism in it."

School district and teachers union are at loggerheads over funding pay increases. (AP Photo/Claire Rush, File)

"I mean, you do not tell a child that because of his or her skin color that they're going to get a lesser punishment because there's something about that that's driving them to skip school or something," she said. "It really kind of takes away the dignity of the child and the choice in autonomy."

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Kevin O’Leary, a famed investor and entrepreneur, said he realized the union structure was broken after spending half of his career in the educational software business trying to advance reading and math scores in the United States. 

"We're talking about punishing students, when really parents –  who pay the taxes to support this and pay teachers – have never been answered this question: Why does a union not reward good teachers that advance in terms of metrics that they have to advance in to get into college, which is reading math scores? And punish the ones that are no good at it," O'Leary said. "It’s a cancer in our educational system."

The hosts of 'Outnumbered' discuss how schools in Oregon are going to implement a new equity discipline policy.

Host Harris Faulkner added that paying teachers based on their performance was common sense. 

"It's actually practical. It makes sense. But unfortunately, these teachers unions and these kinds of policies are just rooted in a virtue signaling," Faulkner said.

PPS staff had been on strike since Nov. 1 over concerns about pay, class sizes, planning time, etc., but announced last week it had reached a tentative agreement with its teachers union. 

Students returned to class the Monday after Thanksgiving with a two-hour delay after more than three weeks out of school.

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The district's 45,000 students missed 11 days of school before the district's Thanksgiving break. The last day students attended school was Halloween and there was no online education during the strike.

"This contract is a watershed moment for Portland students, families, and educators," Portland Teachers Association President Angela Bonilla said in a statement. "Educators have secured improvements on all our key issues. ... Educators walked picket lines alongside families, students, and allies - and because of that, our schools are getting the added investment they need."

Fox News' Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to remove a citing of a Maine public school policy.