The Whole-School Restorative Approach - Lamoille North Supervisory Union

Whole-school restorative approaches build healthy school climates by creating space for people to understand one another and develop relationships; when things go wrong, restorative approaches create space to address needs, repair relationships, and heal.

Restorative practices provide meaningful opportunities for social engagement that foster empathy and mutual responsibility for the well-being of individuals and the community. Proactive practices intentionally build trust and understanding within the community to ensure a healthy supportive climate and environment. When things go wrong, restorative practices engage those affected and create space so that individuals and communities can effectively identify, understand, and address harms and needs—this facilitates healing.

Jon Kidde, Whole-School Restorative Approach Resource Guide

In 2018, LNSU began its partnership with Lamoille Restorative Center to bring restorative approaches to the district. Successful implementation of a whole-school restorative approach includes the development of a restorative mindset, is woven into a school's DEI program, and is supported by the MTSS framework.

The tabs below will provide a brief explanation of the restorative mindset and a restorative approach within the MTSS framework.

Restorative Mindset

A restorative mindset describes how you understand the school community and the people in it. Chicago Public Schools' Restorative Practices Toolkit identifies the following values and concepts as being key components of this mindset:

Relationships and trust are at the center of the community
Healing and skill building is vital to the restorative process
When harm is caused, acknowledges that those effected often need support and healing opportunities
Conflicts are resolved through dialogue
Responses are aligned with trauma transformative and equity models
All community members use restorative language that includes empathetic listening and compassionate communication
We value different ideas and perspectives
Ownership of a conversation or process should be collective.

The restorative mindset is then supported by the four key principles of restorative work.

Exploring Relationships: Creating space and time for people in a community to get to know one another is a first step of building trust. This helps to build, deepen, and support healthy relationships and community; it develops the capacity for empathy and social-emotional learning.

Meaningful Engagement: Meaningful Engagement provides opportunities for a person’s voice and ideas to matter. The opportunities and conditions needed for authentic meaningful engagement are different from one person to the next. They are created when we can establish trust and respect. We can build trust, respect, and meaningful engagement when we honor people as valuable humans, as members of our community, and not objects to be controlled.

Agency/Choice/Collaborative Decision Making: People choose how and when they participate in restorative practices. As long as their choices do not infringe on someone else’s safety or ability to participate, a person may choose to listen and not speak in a restorative process or practice. When all members have a meaningful role in a decision-making community, culture is co-created. Collaborative decision-making promotes and strengthens a sense of belonging and mutual responsibility for the well-being of all. The phrase “nothing about us without us” sums it up.

Active Responsibility: Active responsibility is different from consequences. Active responsibility requires an understanding of the harms and needs and addressing them by following through with an agreement. Restorative practices foster internal motivation to take responsibility rather than rely on external coercion and exclusion.

(These principles were adapted from Jon Kidde’s 2020 Procedure, Practice, and Policy Recommendations for ADAP Pilot.)

Resources:

Universal Approaches

A whole-school restorative approach begins with proactive community building. At the universal level we promote practices that focus on:

Building Relationships
Voluntary Participation
Meaningful Engagement
Participatory Decision Making

Activities at the universal level include:

Circles to establish classroom norms
Morning check-ins
Afternoon check-outs
Celebration circles
Value circles
Discussion and decision circles

The goal of the universal approaches is to create a healthy school climate.

Targeted Approaches

In a whole-school restorative approach, targeted interventions are used when people and/or relationships are stressed or damaged. At this level we promote practices that focus on:

Meaningful Engagement
Participatory Decision Making
Voluntary Participation Identifying the Harms and Needs of a Situation
Promotion of Active Accountability

Activities at the universal level include:

Problem Solving Circles
Transition Circles
Restorative Dialogues
Collaborative Problem Solving

The goal of the targeted restorative approaches is to turn incidents into learning opportunities through dialogue and co-created agreements.

Intensive Approaches

In a whole-school restorative approach, intensive interventions are used when people are disengaged and/or excluded from the community or when more serious harm has been done. At this level we promote practices that focus on:

Restoring/Transforming Relationships
Facilitating Belonging
Building Systems of Support
Promoting Meaningful Engagement
Voluntary Participation
Identifying the Harms and Needs of a Situation
Promotion of Active Accountability
Promoting Healing

Activities at the universal level include:

Long-Term Support Circles
Welcome Circles
Re-Entry Circles
Complex Harm Processes

The goal of the intensive restorative approaches is to create new opportunities for engagement through systems of support and community building.

"The Circle is a structured dialogue process that nurtures connections and empathy, while honoring the uniqueness of each participant." - Kay Pranis

Parts of the Circle

Seating

Opening

Centerpiece

A centerpiece creates a focal point for the participants. A centerpiece can sit on the floor within the circle. Centerpieces can be created by the group and may include items that have meaning for the group. A group can add to their centerpiece over time.

Examples of Centerpieces: For visual examples of centerpieces check out the slide show from The Circle Works.

Talking Piece

The talking piece is used to create an equitable environment for sharing. The talking piece regulates the dialogue and gets passed from person to person around the circle. Only the person holding the talking piece should be speaking. For those without the talking piece, it is an opportunity to actively listen to the speaker.

Examples of Talking Pieces: Talking pieces are often items that have meaning for the group or are relevant to the circle topics. Items that are often used are stuffed animals, small stones, books, and other small objects.

Guiding Questions

Circles use guiding questions to stimulate conversation about the main topic of the circle. Every member of the circle has an opportunity to respond to the prompting question or theme during a round.

Careful selection of the guiding questions is important so that we can facilitate a discussion that goes beyond surface responses. Typically, we begin with lower risk questions and then build towards higher risk questions as the group builds trust.

Examples of guiding questions:

Low Risk-

If you were an animal, what animal would you be today?

What is your favorite seasonal food?

Higher Risk-

What change would you like to see in your work group/family/community?
In your experience, what supports healing?

Please see Appendix 1 of the Circle Keepers Handbook by Kay Pranis for sample questions for a variety of scenarios.

Closing

The closing acknowledges the efforts of those in the circle and allows for a transition back to the regular routine. The openings and closings are designed to fit the nature of the group and provide opportunities for cultural responsiveness. In an ongoing group, participants may be involved in creating and facilitating openings and closings.

Examples: Poems, quotes, guided meditations, or breathing exercise can all be effective closing. You can also try a closing question such as “What have you learned?”, or “What can you take away that is useful to you?”

Circle Keeper

The keeper assists the group in creating and maintaining a space in which each participant feels safe speaking honestly and openly. The keeper organizes the circle logistics including setting the time and place, preparing the participants, and designing the circle process.

During the circle, the keeper should monitor the collective space and encourage reflections through questions or topic suggestions. It is important to remember that the keeper does not move the group towards a particular outcome. The keeper is also not responsible for enforcing the circle guidelines. The responsibility for addressing issues in the circle belongs to the circle participants. The circle keeper is there to support and care for the well-being of all circle participants.

Kay Pranis provides us with the following points about the circle keeper role.

Maintain a commitment to the well-being of everyone in the circle throughout the process,
Help the group create a respectful space,
Monitor the quality of the space as the circle proceeds,
Draw the group’s attention to any problems with the quality of the space,
Invite the group to figure out how to improve the quality of the space,
Support and validate efforts of individuals and the group during the process,
Summarize ideas of the group for resolution,
Lead the process of determining consensus, if applicable.

“Circles deliberately delay dialogue about sensitive issues until the group has done some work on building relationships” - Pranis and Boyes-Watson;

The circle process is divided into four equal parts based on the framework of the Medicine Wheel. These parts must operate in balance. This means that the circle should spend as much time on “Getting Acquainted” and “Building Relationships” as is spent on “Addressing Issues” and “Developing Action Plans”.

In a school setting, getting acquainted and relationship building can happen over time and in a variety of ways. With this said, all circles should be designed with the intention to allow people to get re-acquainted and strengthen their relationships before jumping into the issues.

Learning From Others
Videos and Quick Resources

Learning From Others

Creating a restorative school can be challenging work. However, other schools have already embarked on this journey and we can learn from their experiences.

Below are examples of the work from three other school districts. This information is provided as a resource and inspiration for your own school's journey.

Oakland Union School District (OUSD) began to implement restorative work into its schools in 2007. They have created the “Oakland Unified School District Restorative Justice Implementation Guide: A Whole School Approach”. This guide supports schools in their implementation process by offering reflective questions, and ideas on how to brainstorm ways to assess, align, and move forward.

Chicago Public Schools also began to shift from zero tolerance to a restorative school in 2007 due to the advocacy of parents and community groups. They have created the “Chicago Public Schools Restorative Practices Guide and Toolkit”. This guide and toolkit offers structured guidance on the philosophy, implementation, and action of restorative practices in elementary through secondary schools.

Baltimore City Schools pledged to transform from a zero tolerance to restorative school district in 2016. To support this work, they have created a comprehensive “Restorative Practices Lesson Plan Guide”. This guide provides differentiated lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school levels. It is a comprehensive tool that is easy to read and navigate.

These guides, toolkits and lesson plans are available to offer ideas on how schools can shift towards becoming restorative, inclusive, equitable. These resources should be used in coordination with ongoing training, coaching, and professional development.

Videos and Quick Resources

The Whole-School Restorative Approach

Universal Practices

Targeted Practices

Resources coming soon.

Intensive Practices

Video: Restorative Justice in Oakland Schools: Restorative Welcome and Reentry Circle.

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In This Section

Restorative Mindset

Universal Approaches

Targeted Approaches

Intensive Approaches

Parts of the Circle

Seating

Opening

Centerpiece

Talking Piece

Guiding Questions

Closing

Circle Keeper

Learning From Others

Videos and Quick Resources

LNSU partners with Lamoille Restorative Center to implement, train, and support the district in the adoption of a whole-school restorative approach.