Dear Friends,
School is back in session and we hope you all had some good summer memories and are ready for another school year. (This picture is from Crested Butte, CO in the late summer.)
STARTING THE SCHOOL YEAR STRONG
The beginning of the school year is a powerful time to set the stage for creating a relational and restorative culture. Here are some key elements of doing so:
- Get your team together and create an action plan for the year. Set goals & PD dates. Connect with other similar initiatives.
- Present these goals to the staff and then discuss and refine.
- Hold Staff Circles to build your own community and connections.
- Train new teachers for at least 3-6 hours.
- Have teachers hold Connection Circles on a regular basis to begin with: 1x/day for Elementary; 2-3x/week for Middle; 1x/week for High.
- Have teachers hold Classroom Agreement Circles. Consider having them lead an activity on what respect looks like to them: student to student; student to teacher; student to admin; teacher to teacher; teacher to admin.
- Designate places for your Peace Corners (self-regulation) and Peace Places (conflict resolution/harm repair).
- Be data driven. Look for disproportionate discipline issues.
- Coach and learn from one another.
- Give yourselves plenty of grace as we're just coming out of a pandemic.
UPDATES
 We are fully engaged with two school districts in western New York: Salamanca City and Allegany-Limestone Central School Districts and just came back from training the whole staff at Salamanca High School. The district schools are located on the Allegany portion of the Seneca Nation of Indians Reservation. Approximately 36% of the student population is Native American. (And since it was an hour south of Buffalo, we took a side trip to see Niagara Falls!)- Our updated, 13th Edition of our Restorative Practices in Schools training manual is now available on our Google Drive, for those of you who have attended our trainings in the past. We've expanded the manual to include more on Circles, Restorative Conversations, Elementary level materials, Equity & RP, and Trauma Informed Approaches through Restorative Practices. It is now 132 pages!
- Our two presentations at the National Association of Community Restorative Justice conference in Chicago were well received and we came back energized.
 ENGAGING STUDENTS & FAMILIES
One of the areas that we have been focusing on a lot recently is how and when to roll out Restorative Practices to students and families. We put our best ideas and loads of resources in our new manual called "Engaging Students and Families in Restorative Practices: A Workbook for Schools". In it, we list the Spectrum of Engagement and provide specific plans and resources for teachers, administrators and RP Coordinators. The Spectrum of Engagement is:
- Low: Informing (keep them informed)
- Mid: Listening (get feedback)
- High: Including (co-creating)
- Exceptional: Empowering (true ownership)
Do your best to move beyond "Informing" and into "Listening" and "Including". This workbook is available for sale to anyone who is implementing Restorative Practices in Schools. The cost is $20 plus shipping. We even have a couple of handouts in Spanish. We also have a 2 page handout for Parents & Families and a 17 page Parent/Family Handbook that is available to anyone in our circle.
RESTORATIVE PRACTICES IN SCHOOLS ACT OF 2022--S. 3973
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced this bill last year and we thought you'd like to know what's in it. This bill requires the  Department of Education to award grants for local educational agencies to replace existing zero-tolerance disciplinary polices and punitive discipline in elementary and secondary schools with restorative practices. Additionally, the bill directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the use of discipline practices that funnel students out of school and toward the juvenile legal and criminal legal systems (i.e., the school-to-prison pipeline).
2022 FALL TRAINING INSTITUTE: NOV 7-15
We will be holding our Fall Institute in early November, which is a good time to train new teachers in your school. Please spread the word in your school and District communities! Schools with 3 or more attendees are eligible for a 10% discount. We will again be holding the trainings on the Zoom platform, though we'd love to hold an in-person training in Denver if there is enough interest.
This six day Institute (2, 4, or 6 day options) in Restorative Practices is facilitated by the main trainers behind  Restorative Solutions (Randy Compton, Catherine Childs and Kevin Pugh) See our About Us page for details of our training staff.
Restorative Practices in Schools: Nov 7-8
Restorative Mediation and Conferencing: Nov 10-11
Active Implementation and Evaluation: Nov 14-15
TO REGISTER click HERE.
(To download the 2022 flyer, click here: (RPS Fall Institute Flyer 2022)
ARTICLE ON CREATING CONNECTION
Our friend, colleague and district leader, Ari Gerzon-Kessler, wrote this excellent article, "From isolation to connection: New possibilities for learning during and after the pandemic". In it he suggests nine questions to help guide students from a generation isolated and learning virtually to one connected and engaged. It's worth the read.
QUOTES FROM TEACHERS & ADMINISTRATORS
"This is a safe space." (spoken to students about the Circle)
"If I want to get their attention, I sing to them." (for elementary students)
"Please make sure you're trying new things and see what works and what doesn't work."
Keep up the great work!
All the best,
Randy Compton Catherine Childs
President and Co-founder Principal, Lead Trainer
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