This school happens to be in Michigan, but it could any other schools anywhere.
Restorative Justice Coordinator: Restorative justice is less a tool, really, and more a way of being, in a world of being with other people, a way of being in our society, which helps us to understand that our actions have an impact far a greater than we may ever have imagined. And when we focus only on punishment as we do sometimes in traditional school discipline we find that we lose sight of that connection, whereas when we’re focusing on how do we heal, how do we clean up the messes we make. And we all, we all, make messes. How do we heal those, how do we clean those messes up, that is when we find that we are able to really truly be in community.
Restorative justice is a different approach from traditional school discipline.
Restorative Justice Coordinator: Under the traditional school discipline process, you look at the situation of misconduct, and you ask what rule was broken, and what is the punishment. But restorative justice comes at that same situation of misconduct from a different ankle, restorative justice asks what harm has caused by this incident, and how do we heal that harm. By changing the approach from punishment to healing, we have found that we have empowered students, we have opened the possibility up for education, and we have created much stronger community with the students who have used this process.
What is restorative justice? Restorative justice is a peaceful conflict resolution tool. It is an approach to school discipline that works because it:
l Engages all the parties affected by misconduct and conflict.
l Empowers the victim and community to identify the harm and define what must be done to repair it.
l Empowers the offender to take the necessary steps to heal the harm and return to the community as a full, productive member.
l Imposes accountability and gives students the skills to resolve future conflicts peacefully.
Fourth grader Sydney Letau has found that restorative justice can help. When friendship issue led her to the school peace center, she used restorative justice program to solve the problem.
Sydney: I went to the peace center, because I have troubles with my friends and my want to be friend again. But I did not know how to do it.
Parents: In early childhood we talk about wanting children to internalize rules, which is why we tell them the reason for rules. Well, beyond this is a rule, and this is not a rule, when you get into the social aspect of life. There are not black and white rules. It is not this is right and this is wrong. It is very situational. So it is much more difficult for children to internalize what is appropriate socially, what is not appropriate socially. So giving children this tool at their young age, and giving all children the tools, it is going to help them be more successful.
Sydney: We all sat on the table, and we had a ball. And she would give it to the first person, and the first person would tell their story. And then let everybody goes around. So nobody can talk, when they did not have that piece ball.
Parent: Growing up, there is nothing like this, you know, when I was growing up.That I can recall. For her, to be able to use, be able to deal with conflicts better vocal, you know, communication that, this is so much better from I was growing up. You know, fights involved. This is so much better for her and to learn the process.
Sydney: After that, we were back to the classroom and we actually made up a sign. If you did not want to talk to them, cause you were too mad. So every time we do not want to talk to them, we make of that sign. It goes like that.
Principle: I think, if we are careful about training children at an early age, in terms of how to handle conflicts, how to handle stress, how to handle their emotional brain, so to speak, that we will have far better students at the middle school level, we will have far more capable students at the high school level, and healthier adults ultimately latter on down the road who will be able to handle their conflicts in a peaceful productive manner. And if we can feel a little more with our hearts and instead of with our fists, we certainly will have a far better world for all us to live in.
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