Restorative justice instead of punishment
At Cole Middle School in West Oakland, a student who curses or fights is sent to a talking circle instead of the principal's office. Even teachers and staff are using circles to talk about the daily stress of work. "It helps me feel more connected to people when I'm sitting in circle," said Chad Riley, a second-year teacher at Cole.
Talking circles are one element of a restorative justice program that Cole teachers and administrators adopted this year. Restorative justice, which emphasizes dialogue-based responses to community problems, has been adopted by schools and juvenile justice systems around the world — including several schools in California, such as Cole.
Last year, before restorative justice was adopted at Cole, teachers and administrators struggled to control student conduct. Pressured to focus on teaching the rest of the class, teachers typically sent troublemakers to the principal's office. Students who committed serious offenses were suspended or expelled.
Discipline at Cole looks very different now. The restorative justice approach requires more time and energy from everyone involved — teachers, administrators, and students — but the rewards have been greater. Suspensions have decreased 50 percent at Cole since the restorative justice program began. Additionally, the number of students referred for expulsion has dropped from 22 last year to zero as of midway through the second semester.
"There has been a huge shift in climate this year," Riley says. Last year, he recalls, students were more likely to walk out of class, "mouth off" to adults and resist class work and homework assignments. Riley also notes that as rapport among students and teachers has improved, students have been more receptive to the idea of planning for college. He attributes the change to the implementation of restorative justice, which he says could not have happened without support from Principal Ivory Brooks, who's in her first year at Cole.
All staff and teachers at Cole have undergone training in restorative justice practices. Training begins with basics — defining a talking circle, learning to use a "talking piece," which is an object passed around to symbolize when a person has the floor — then preparing teachers to use restorative justice in their classrooms. Teachers first practice "sitting in circle," and then they become comfortable leading circles.
Cole staff and teachers also practice restorative justice among themselves. Staff circles are a forum for discussing interactions with students and for considering the ways these interactions affect the community. Circles also serve a "cathartic" purpose, Riley says, by providing a way to air the daily stresses of teaching. The implementation of restorative justice at Cole has included some bumps. Initially, teachers and administrators were unsure about whether the new disciplinary approach would improve students' behavior. Now, Riley says, the staff has seen restorative justice make a difference and has collectively embraced it.
So have the students. According to Rita Alfred, Cole's restorative justice coordinator, students are now so familiar with the practice that they initiate talking circles in response to problems. They have begun to adopt an ethic of care for the school community, Alfred says.
Measure Y, passed by Oakland voters in 2004 to earmark funding for violence prevention and public safety, pays for Alfred's position. Alfred is employed by Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, which spreads the philosophy and practice of restorative justice.
At Cole, any member of the school community may initiate a talking circle to deal with a variety of problems. For instance, Sharon Thomas, a history and English teacher, recently held an "issue circle" with her seventh-grade class. The problem: Many students were not doing homework, and not enough students were participating in class. So this circle was a chance for Thomas to explain her concerns and for students to voice their thoughts. Class members shared views about the problem and then discussed possible solutions. As a group, they decided they would seek tutoring, use after-school support programs and create a class homework chart.
In another instance, a female student asked Alfred to mediate a "harm circle" for herself and a male student who had cursed at her as they were both cooking in the school cafeteria. Each student brought one friend to the circle for support. After setting ground rules of respect and honesty, the circle participants discussed the conflict and what led up to it. Then everyone suggested solutions. In the end, the two students agreed to avoid interacting with each other. After the female student and her friend left the circle, Alfred reminded the offender that he had been "saved" from suspension by the female student's decision to use restorative justice. Under school rules, suspension is the normal penalty for students who use foul language.
The parents of students at Cole are sometimes called in to participate in circles for family group conferencing — another element of restorative justice practice — and they all love the process. "They're very happy with the way we're doing business," Alfred said. "They don't want to see their kids kicked out."
In one leadership class, students engage in performing arts that promote restorative justice principles. In addition, older Cole students are trained as restorative justice mediators for younger students on the playground.
Despite its progress with restorative justice, Cole will close at the end of the 2008-09 school year. A new public school, West Oakland Middle School, will move onto the campus. Fred Brill, a district administrator who oversees Cole and other middle schools, said West Oakland Middle School and other local middle schools might adopt the restorative justice program as well.
Alfred, though, is optimistic that Cole students will remember and use what they have learned through talking circles
Kony Kim and Christina Yang
22 May 2008