Then and Now: Reflecting on Restorative Practices and the Corruption of the Public Education System

I’m a mediator and Restorative Justice facilitator. Now, I am pretty sure many have probably never heard of mediation before this piece. Even fewer have probably heard of “Restorative Justice” or “Restorative Practices.” Simply put, a mediator is an impartial go-between who helps disputing parties reach an agreement . . . if at all possible. In the field, it may be said that mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution . . . or ADR for short. ADR just means that you use a different approach, from the status quo, to solve a problem when a dispute arises. Under this broad ADR term are various fields and practices. Mediation is one branch. Another branch is what is commonly called Restorative Justice . . . or RJ for short. Unlike mediation, RJ is its own unique branch where offenses (i.e., crimes) are handled between the offender, the victim, and the community in a very guided approach towards problem-solving, atonement, forgiveness, and other key factors. Whereas a mediation may only take a few minutes to a few hours, RJ can take weeks, months, or even years. Within the field of RJ, different approaches can be used based on severity and need. When an offense has not occurred, and RJ practices are being used to prevent future offenses from happening, the term changes to Restorative Practices.

I first began studying conflict dynamics starting in the late 1990s at the urging of a mediator friend. He saw in me a gift that I really didn’t know I had. After getting my initial certification as a county court mediator, I went on to study Restorative Justice at the University of West Florida College of Professional Studies. Having recently transitioned from the public education system to the judicial system, the bulk of my studies were on the less-investigated field of Restorative Juvenile Justice.

In 2012, after seeing sensational national news reports of children being arrested for innocuous offenses; and after personally seeing scores of my former students being sent through the criminal justice system like cattle, most of which were overcharged by law enforcement for minor offenses — I felt an overwhelming need to speak out on behalf of the defenseless youth being trampled upon by our educational and criminal justice systems. Not only did I need to speak out but I also needed to provide a solution. With that in mind, and at the urging of an author friend, I wrote my first award-winning book, Unbroken Circles for Schools: Restoring Schools One Conflict at a Time. In it, I laid out a platform that schools could use free of charge to reform their approaches. Later, I wrote a follow-up award-winning book called, Unbroken Circles for Schools: Training Scenarios.

Between 2014 and 2016 was a time of great change. Through my efforts, as well as the efforts of others in the RJ field, light was being shed on how public education systems were arresting children, at school, on innocuous offenses that no adult would ever be arrested for (i.e., felony gun charges for using a French fry as a toy gun, felony charges for drawing a picture, misdemeanor charges of pulling a false fire alarm for drawing a picture, felony and misdemeanor charges based on “disorderly conduct” for nothing more than being cranky). It was revealed how millions of dollars were being wasted by arresting children. Dropout rates were being tied to inappropriate suspensions and expulsions for minor offenses. Adults were called out for wasting taxpayer dollars by arresting at-risk and disadvantaged youth for crimes no adult would ever be charged for doing. Even juvenile court judges, like Georgia’s Judge Teske came out saying that most of these frivolous, and quite dangerous, over-charging of disadvantaged youth stemmed from nothing more than adults who got mad at a child and wanted them arrested.

This naturally put the public education system in a panic. Administrators did not like being accused of having poor performing children arrested, just before standardized testing, in order to artificially raise the school’s scores. Teachers did not like it being made public how they were having children arrested for using food items as toy guns or drawing pictures. School boards definitely didn’t like the fact these issues were being made public or how School Resource Officers were being used to arrest children for off-campus play with water guns and other toy guns as a way to remove poor performing, and disadvantaged, children from the educational system.

The more that was pulled back and made public, even more was revealed as to the depravity of the public education system.

For example, while being called-in to do some training, it was revealed to me that one school system decided to take a “restorative approach” by sending all their “problem” students to a single school where they would be forced to go through a metal detector, frisked, their bags searched, and then placed in front of a computer terminal every day (without a teacher personally teaching them). The school officials were banned from looking at the child’s files to know what issues the student has had in the past, known learning disabilities, etc. In essence, the child was in a day prison with limited human interaction (if you consider being frisked human interaction). Nothing about it was “restorative” other than the fact the school board decided to use that name for their project.

In another school, their “restorative” program was nothing more than a way for social activists to get the students out of school for the day to protest for various causes the sponsor felt were of merit. So, one day the children might be protesting at a church for gay marriage and the next day protesting a medical facility in support of animal rights. In essence, the children were a free labor source for people with political agendas. The children didn’t learn anything of merit as they were being used in a way that is nothing short of appalling. Again, nothing about this was “restorative” other than the fact the school board decided to use that name for that specific project.

Still yet, in another case, Tampa-area officials had devised this “restorative” program where children would be arrested, sent to a mental health facility for evaluation, and then forced to work on the Sheriff’s youth work camp. After the student finished their program, the charges would be dropped and they’d have a mental health diagnosis that usually barred them from ever entering the military or owning a firearm. Again, once the individual cases were reviewed, most were trumped up charges of such things as using food as toys and then being arrested on felony firearms charges. Nothing about this program was restorative other than the misuse of the name!

During this time, one of the great changes I saw was the number of concerned teachers who wanted to make a difference using Restorative Practices. Even though I am a paid public speaker, I would forgo my speaker fees (which was $400 per hour at the time) to teach these educators the art of Restorative Practices. It was rewarding work!

Then, something changed around 2017. Teachers started calling me up complaining about this weird phenomenon. You see, in 2015 to 2016, they went back to their schools and tried to start programs with resistance and confusion from their local officials. Beginning around 2017, school boards started enacting “approved” Restorative Justice programs. Usually, these programs only required an hour or two of training to get a certificate that made one a school system certified Restorative Justice Practitioner. But, it even got weirder as the school system usually forbade teachers from being certified, they forbade any outside professionals from coming into the school system to do RJ training or evaluation, and the bulk of these programs often had no recognizable elements in keeping with any known RJ protocols and procedures. According to these teachers, the very people who knew nothing about RJ four months ago were now “certified experts” and espousing dangerous and harmful practices as being “restorative.”

Truly, by 2019, I was shut out of every single school in the nation. Not only was I shut out but also all of my colleagues reported the same. The public education system had barred all entry and used their governmental powers to rewrite a profession to be what they wanted it to be.

Imagine that for a second what I just said. They used their governmental power to rewrite a profession to be what they wanted it to be.

Imagine a field, like medicine. We all know a doctor needs years of training and testing before (s)he can do just general medicine. If the doctor wants to specialize, that is even more training, testing, etc. Now, let’s imagine the school board coming in and saying “medicine” is now nothing more than juice and toast. A librarian or paraprofessional can take a two-hour class, where the school board determines all the criteria for the course curriculum, and that school employee would then be deemed a certified “school doctor.” Johnny broke a leg? The “certified school doctor” will administer a piece of white bread toast and a serving of apple juice to the student before releasing the student back to their physical education class to play soccer. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous. Well, that is what they pretty much did to my profession. What took years, various degrees, and countless certifications, was reduced and twisted into something that was anything but “restorative.”

When I first started this journey, some 2.2 million students were being arrested annually . . . mostly at school. These students were typically overcharged on various felony and misdemeanor offenses. According to a 2022 joint collaboration report between USA Today and The Center for Public Integrity, even though overall crime has dropped by over sixty percent since 2000, the number of arrests in children is skyrocketing. Children as young as five years of age are being arrested still at school for nothing more than being cranky. The University of Connecticut’s Center for Education Policy Analysis has published numerous similar reports. One notes how <1% of all US public schools had a dedicated law enforcement presence in 1978 while now >58% of US public schools had a dedicated law enforcement presence in 2018. One published piece even correlated how dedicated School Resource Officers (SROs) correlated to higher numbers of expulsions, suspensions, and disproportionate levels of arrests. This report cited surveys of SROs showing 77% responding that they arrested a child just to calm them down and that 55% merely arrested a child because a school official asked them to. This same report cites a report from The Advancement Project which discussed the heightened level of police brutality towards children in schools when dedicated SROs are present. Another cited source showed a 3.5 times higher rate of arrest when dedicated SROs were present at a school. Many of these reports aren’t even looking at the increased level of “sex crimes” in teenagers where SROs are arresting teens for dating a person just a few weeks to a few months younger than themselves.

The truth of the matter is children are not the problem. Our country has had a horrible history of neglecting and abusing our youth. I even once wrote about the unspoken war on youth that our nation has undertaken. Frauds, like Dr. John DiIulio, Jr., have made a living off of demonizing children with unsubstantiated myths posited as theories and facts. The “Super Predator” myth is more alive and well now than when DiIulio first posited it as fact decades ago in his book. News reports are trying to sensationalize out-of-control children, call for more law enforcement officers, etc. when a polling of the actual case reports often reveals little to no merit to the allegations.

Moreover, the public education system has effectively shut out any inroads for investigation, oversight, and reform. In Florida, it is now a matter of public law that at least one dedicated SRO must be on duty at all times at each public school. Other states have followed suit. Ultimately, billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted annually for SROs to do nothing more than to direct traffic and arrest a child whenever an adult gets angry.

Depending on which study you go by, as much as 80% of incarcerated adults have a past where they were arrested as a child. The top reason why a child leaves the juvenile justice system is to be transported over to an adult correctional facility to finish out the terms of their sentence as an adult.

Imagine your son, your daughter, or even your grandchild being arrested and sentenced on a felony bomb threat charge for drawing a picture. Imagine a neighbor’s child, say five or six years of age, being handcuffed and placed in a police cruiser for “disorderly conduct” charges because a teacher wanted him/her arrested for being cranky. Think about some band student getting arrested and convicted for sex crimes merely for dating another student just a few months younger than they are. This is where we are in America! For all the advancements and shouts for change, the public education system doubled-down to maintain the status quo. It would appear John Dalberg-Acton was correct when he observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”