1 . A school’s “peace room” aims to end fighting in the halls

By the time Marquita Riley, 16, and Aaliyah Hudson, 17, ended up in their school’s “peace room,” rumors（传闻） had floated through the halls that the two girls were going to fight.

The peace room at Manley is a part of the school’s restorative justice initiative, a growing social movement that, among other things, focuses on healing and teaching how to solve conflicts. The philosophy aims to bring together victims and offenders to cooperatively work through their problems.

The concept is increasingly being used in schools, community centers and churches in Chicago as a way to teach young people how to analyze their anger. They learn to confront tension before it turns violent. It is also being used as an alternative to punitive（处罚的）measures, like suspensions and arrests, which can lead to more trouble for hurting communities.

The idea is that “when harm happens or someone misbehaves, there needs to be a process of restoration in order for the community to move forward,” said Ilana Zafran of Umoja Student Development. Umoja runs restorative justice programs in Chicago schools.

The concept forces all sides in a disagreement to communicate and understand one another instead of resorting to violence. There may still be punishment for wrongdoing, but restorative justice emphasizes identifying hurt and thinking of ways to fix it.

“A lot of our kids don’t want to be involved in fights. They don’t want to be suspended or away from school,” Jackson said. “We had to create an environment of peace. High school has to be a pleasurable experience for our kids. If they come here and feel the same anxiety they feel in the streets, how can we expect them to stay?”

Among the people there were Marquita and Aaliyah, the two girls rumored to be gearing up for a major fight. After another 20 minutes of discussion, they agreed they had simply misunderstood each other. The girls decided they would not fight, and promised they would talk it over if they found themselves facing tension again.

2 . The lines to enter South Gate’s South East High School and South East Middle School at 9 a.m. Monday were each about 200 students deep.

Kony Aguillon sat in the shade while her son, an eighth-grader, waited for his health check in. She had done everything right Sunday night, pre-checking the district’s Daily Pass website so that it would be smooth going the next morning. But on Monday, the system wouldn’t load. They arrived at school early, around 7:50 a.m., to check in, and an hour later, there they stood. “I imagined it was going to be crazy,” she added, but not as bad as it was.

Opening day at the nation’s second-largest school district unfolded with a mix of emotions: frustration over long waits, anxiety over health protocols and concern for how things would go for children who have been learning online for a year and a half. But for many, the sense of joy and relief at being together again eased the worries.

In the early morning at John Marshall High, lines of students waiting to enter extended two blocks. By 9 a.m., some students were still waiting, having missed part of the first class.

In anticipation of delays, Gary Garcia had already extended the first period of classes by about 18 minutes in hopes that all students could meet their teachers.

Teachers and parents also expressed optimism.

“It’s exciting,” said Nohemi Sanchez-Heredia, who teaches first grade. Henriette Jeter was at the school with her daughters, who are starting kindergarten, second and fifth grades. Even though the Delta variant (德尔塔变异株) worries her, she felt her kids needed to be back in a classroom.

The most common emotions were in the largest type: “nervous” and “excited” mixed with somewhat “stressed”, “happy”, “tired” and “scared”.

8 . School is still out for the summer, but at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., students are hard at work outdoors. In a garden filled with flowers and beds bursting with vegetables and herbs, nearly a dozen teenagers are harvesting vegetables for the weekend’s farmers market.

Roshawn Little is going into her junior year at Eastern, and has been working in this garden for three years now. During the summer, Little gets paid to work Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a. m. until 2 p.m. with City Blossoms, a nonprofit that brings community gardens to schools in urban areas. She believes that working in the garden has taught her to try all sorts of new things, like eating different kinds of vegetables more often. And she’s taken those healthy behaviors home with her and her eating habits have encouraged her family to buy more fruits and vegetables.

City Blossoms is one of many groups across the country teaming up with local communities to build school gardens, like the one at Eastern. It works with schools to create learning gardens and trains teachers on how to use them to get students engaged and boost academics. These gardens are really outdoor classrooms. For example, the gardens can be used for math lessons, like calculating the area of a plant bed or learning the science of how plants grow.

For the students, the experience can be a nutritional eye-opener, which has totally changed their perceptions of where food comes from, and what it takes to produce food. Partner schools have also seen a 12 to 15 percent increase in the number of students passing standardized tests and 94 percent of teachers reported seeing increased engagement from their students, according to an independent evaluation conducted by PEER Associates.

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