AMOS Conflict Resolution Program Highlighted in Axios
As Des Moines Public Schools shifts disciplinary policy, Axios contrasts the new discipline rules to the “Let’s Talk” conflict resolution strategy that A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS) designed and successfully implemented in Des Moines Middle Schools 8 years ago.
[Excerpts]
The rules [assigning students involved in fights to virtual learning] are likely to take more students out of classrooms and increase disciplinary disparities among students of color, says Cheryl Hayes, a juvenile justice reform advocate with A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS), a network of metro churches and community groups that runs a mediation program in the district….
Community volunteers [from AMOS] launched the Let's Talk program in three district middle schools eight years ago with one key objective: fix a system that disproportionately disciplines students of color, Hayes, who's also a coordinator for the program, tells Axios.
The district has since expanded the program to nearly all of its 12 middle schools...
Let's Talk is run by AMOS, a network of dozens of metro churches, neighborhood groups and community organizations.
The program helps students resolve conflicts peacefully, and ultimately aims to disrupt the "school-to-prison pipeline" — the link between punishments and the criminal justice system.
Inspiration for the restorative justice program came from "The New Jim Crow," a book about the U.S. legal system and how it has led to the mass incarceration of Black men, Hayes says.
What they do: Volunteer mediators, such as retired judges, go into schools to help resolve student conflicts or other disciplinary issues through discussion.
Oftentimes, mediators help students work through home-life traumas that are a factor in problems surfacing at school, Hayes says.
Program facilitators also assist with cultural awareness training among district educators to help improve teaching and disciplinary practices.
What they're saying: Hayes says organizers believe Let's Talk is a factor in why disciplinary referrals — generally those involving assaults or weapons — were down in grades 6-8 during the first four months of this school year [as reported by Axios, February 2022].
[Photo credit: Let's Talk via Axios]
AMOS Leader Rev. Dr. Black Profiled for Legacy of Justice

The media ritual of the exit interview in which a journalist sits down for reflective conversation with a public figure leaving office or moving away shouldn't be confined only to elected officials or CEOs.
Read moreAMOS Reduces Juvenile Suspensions, Expulsions, Arrests

Between 2011 and 2015, suspensions and expulsions dropped by nearly 64% and suspensions for school attendance issues dropped by 91%. Arrests of minors by city police dropped by 32%, with a 21% reduction in the arrests of African American youth.
Read moreAMOS Points out Local Progress on Juvenile Justice

Polk County Makes Progress on Juvenile Justice, Des Moines Register
AMOS Focuses on Impact of Trauma & Poverty on Children

Dr. Dipesh Navsaria explained that when young children are routinely stressed, such as in cases of abuse, "their systems bombard them with 'flight or flight' hormones", the overproduction of which can stunt their ability to control their emotions or even learn.
Read moreAMOS' Restorative Justice Strategy Advances in Iowa

The Des Moines Register notes that the juvenile justice system is "slowly evolving in response" to long lasting consequences on youth from court involvement, an issue raised by AMOS earlier this year. The front page story below includes the impact of such an approach on at least one Iowan teen.
Read moreAMOS Backs Courthouse Plan at 'Restorative Justice' Meeting

Read more
AMOS Backs Greater Emphasis on 'Restorative Justice' For Juvenile Offenders
"In the disagreement between Polk County officials and the citizen group AMOS, logic seems to favor AMOS. Especially in the long run.
Read moreGrant to Iowa Will Bolster Juvenile Justice Efforts
The $750,000 grant will provide training and technical help from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for improving services to young offenders. The three-year program will be administered by the Iowa Department of Human Rights' Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning....
Read moreAMOS Clergy & County Attorney Debate Draws in Sheriff
"Polk County Attorney John Sarcone accuses AMOS of distortion and grossly misleading people about juvenile justice in our county
Read more