ACResolution Magazine

Restorative Schools:
Using Community Circles for Culture Transformation

At North View High School (not its real name), they kept coming back to school even after they graduated. When North View started implementing restorative practices last school year, they began an after-school program called, simply, “Community.” Students whose behaviors previously would have led to an immediate detention were given the option: go to lunch detention or come to Community. At Community, the Assistant Principal and a guidance counselor, both trained in restorative practices, led students in a circle process. While students had to share what behavior had led them to be there, they spent the majority of the time talking about what was going on in their lives. One outcome was that the behaviors (such as wandering the halls, being late to class) ceased. More importantly, the students kept coming back - and started bringing their friends. Earlier, this year, some students who graduated continued to show up to Community at school once a week.

Over the past twenty years, and with growing frequency in the last decade, school districts across North America have brought restorative practices into their schools, using restorative conferencing to respond to serious harm, sometimes hiring restorative justice (RJ) coordinators to handle everyday conflict. In this model, “restorative justice” often looks like a facilitated discussion between a student who has harmed a peer or, more realistically, all people involved who have contributed to the conflict somehow.

For instance, tenth grader Kiera started a social media sexual rumor about Maria after hearing that Maria was interested in Kiera’s boyfriend. A trained RJ facilitator (adult or peer) brought together the students and other supportive individuals of the students’ choosing, and guided the, in a conversation using restorative questions, such as “What happened?” “Who was affected and how?” and “What needs to happen to make things as right as possible?” The conversation lead to an agreement about what the parties planned to do to repair the harm and move forward. Almost always, bringing people together in a predictable, non-judgmental space and giving them a chance to hear each other will result in some repair. The student who started the rumor might apologize. A teacher who participated in the restorative conversation might support the students to understand how sexism leads girls to feel insecure and take their insecurities out on each other instead of working together. The girls might agree to talk with their peers about why spreading rumors on social media is harmful and what to do if we see it happening.

These processes are powerful. In order for restorative practices to truly transform a school, however, it must be implemented school-wide and on many levels, not as a simple alternative to the usual punishment that happens in isolation from the rest of the school climate. Schools doing whole-school change work embrace proactive community building as a key strategy in creating a truly restorative school. Over the long haul, in fact, restorative community-building processes, such as circles, create obvious harm repair.

ACE STUDY

The landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACE) shed light on a stark reality that most children have or are experiencing adverse experiences such as a family member with mental illness, divorce, abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. The toxic stress created by these experiences can affect students’ physical and mental health, putting them in a chronic state of fight, flight, or freeze, pumping stress hormones to their own bodies’ detriment. The impacts of these adverse experiences can persist into adulthood-- developing into conditions like depression, heart disease, substance abuse, and suicide.

Children coming from adverse experiences often
struggle to gauge threats, self-regulate emotions, and
bounce back from setbacks. Think of a student, Serena,
who was late to class because she was helping her sib-
lings get ready for school. Her dad wasn’t around and
mom was actively using opioids. Serena was on high
alert from toxic stress. When a teacher reprimanded
Serena for being late, she snapped. Too often behaviors
like this are seen in isolation, interpreted as “dysfunc-
tional behaviors”, and deserving of “discipline.”
It’s clear how a restorative harm-repair process, like
the one between Kiera and Maria, can be much more
powerful than a detention or suspension. But how can
sitting in a community-building circle support Serena to
regulate her emotions and offset the negative impact
of childhood trauma?

SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS

Children like Serena “act out” because they have deep unmet needs for safety, understanding, love, belonging, and to be seen. They are at higher risk of participating in unhealthy and risky behaviors like early substance use and early sexual nitiation. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “school connectedness— [is] the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning

About the Authors

MEL MOTEL

is Founder and Director of the Just Schools Project, provides training, consultation, coaching, and other support to people in schools who are using restorative practices. She is also on the faculty of the Community College of Vermont, where she teaches “Community and Restorative Justice."

KARA
MCLAUGHLIN

has worked for the
past 10 years at
the Gill-Montague
Community School
Partnership, a com-
munity coalition
working to reduce
violence and sub-
stance abuse. Previ-
ously she worked as
a school Peer Me-
diation Coordinator,
and planned events
for the NGO Global
Alliance for Women's
Health at the United
Nations.
by