Restorative Practices

Our school incorporates restorative practices into our Discipline Code and Student Code of Conduct. At times, we use a combination of a restorative intervention and suspension in order to address the underlying cause of the misbehavior or conflict and provide accountability for all those involved.

Our school actively creates a positive school climate for all members of the school community through the regular and ongoing use of classroom and school-wide restorative practices that build community, strengthen relationships, promote inclusiveness, and enhance communication and problem solving skills.

Restorative discipline is a theory of discipline that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by misconduct rather than punishment. It does so by:

• Identifying the misconduct and attempting to repair the damage;

• Including all people impacted by a conflict in the process of responding to conflict; and

• Creating a process that promotes healing, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships to build mutual responsibility and constructive responses to wrongdoing within our schools.

Preventative Measures and Practices

School-wide restorative practices include but are not limited to:

1. Discussions in the classroom and school-wide forums about how members of the school community should treat one another;

2. Time to share the highs and lows of the day in seminar and/or classes or forums;

3. Creating a welcoming environment where parents or guardians and community members are invited to volunteer and participate in the school community, including creating a parent room on campus; and

4. Creating mechanisms for students to check-in when they enter school each day to share concerns and/or request a meeting with a counselor to discuss problems they are facing.

Teachers are encouraged to use restorative circles as a classroom teaching method to work collaboratively with students to set academic goals, explore the curriculum and set classroom norms for behavior, including:

• "Check-in" Circles for teachers and students to share what is going on in their lives, center themselves and focus on the day ahead; and

• Discussion Circles to talk about a topic they are currently studying and delve into more depth on the subject.

Teachers, administrators, counselors, support staff and students themselves shall use restorative problem solving techniques that increase communication and provoke student reflection on how their actions impact others.

Before suspending or expelling for any offense (except for possession of a firearm), the following factors are considered: 

• The student's age

• The student's disciplinary history

• Whether the student has a disability

• The seriousness of the violation or behavior

• Whether the violation or behavior committed by the student threatened the safety of any student or staff member

• Whether restorative practices will be used to address the violation or behavior

• Whether a lesser intervention would prolerly address the violation or behavior