Dear Friends,
As schools come back in session, we want to reach out to welcome you all back and send some tips, updates and an article. We hope you all have 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), Peace Places (conflict resolution/harm repair) and In-School Support Rooms.
- Be data driven. Look for disproportionate discipline issues.
- Coach and learn from one another.
- Create a plan for engaging students and families.
- Give yourselves plenty of grace as there continues to be a lot of turbulence in our world, our families and in our schools.
UPDATES
 We have expanded our training team to 16 trainers to enable us to work with large school districts. Our trainers hail from all parts of the country.- We continue to be engaged with two school districts in western New York: Salamanca City and Allegany-Limestone Central School Districts, have recently contracted with San Mateo-Foster City School District in California, and continue to work with East Grand School District, Douglas County Public Schools, The Dalton School, and Colorado Early Colleges.
- 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!
- We completed our 3 Year contract with Flagstaff Unified School District and the Final Evaluation Report is almost completed.
 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.
2023 FALL TRAINING INSTITUTE: NOV 6-14
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 6-7
Restorative Mediation and Conferencing: Nov 9-10
Active Implementation and Evaluation: Nov 13-14
TO REGISTER click HERE.
(To download the 2023 flyer, click here: (RPS Fall Institute 2023)
THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS IN SCHOOLS (Video)
This is a wonderful video on how to build relationships with our students. It's something we often share in our trainings. Research shows that students who feel safe and supported by adults at school are better able to learn.
ARTICLE ON RJ IN NEW MEXICO SCHOOLS (By Bryant Furlow, New Mexico In Depth | August 8, 2023
ProPublica recently published a wonderful article on Restorative Justice in New Mexico schools and highlighted the work we did at Tse Bit A'i Middle School in Shiprock. Entitled "Growing Number of NM Schools Pursue Restorative Justice to Keep Kids in Schools" and authored by Bryant Furlow, it showcases the work that is being done in the state to keep kids in schools with a restorative approach. This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth.
Keep up the great work and don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or want us to come to your school or organization to continue or to start the work!
All the best,
Randy Compton Catherine Childs
President and Co-founder Principal, Lead Trainer
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