Practicing Restorative Justice at Oakland Charter Public Schools
Photo: Students at Leadership Public Schools (LPS) Oakland R&D, a charter public high school in East Oakland that practices Restorative Justice. Photo courtesy of Hasain Rasheed.
Ever get sent to the principal’s office, when you were a kid? If so, you’ll be glad to hear that many of Oakland’s charter public schools are replacing “old school” disciplinary practices with an innovative and inclusive approach that addresses the root causes of conflicts among students and adults.
In a “Restorative Justice” approach, all parties affected by conflict collectively define its impacts and determine the steps to resolve it. In the school setting, this means employing practices such as “restorative circles” in which students, parents, teachers and staff, to build relationships and address conflicts in the community. It can be a powerful alternative to traditional consequences to violating school rules, like detention, suspension or expulsion. Using Restorative Justice can interrupt the “school to prison pipeline,” which disproportionately affects students of color and students with disabilities.
The organization Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) explains:
“[As] an emerging approach to justice rooted in indigenous cultures, restorative justice is reparative, inclusive, and balanced. It emphasizes repairing harm; inviting all affected to dialogue together to figure out how to do so; and giving equal attention to community safety, victim’s needs, and offender accountability and growth.”
Art teacher Dave Warneke explains how it works at Leadership Public Schools (LPS) Oakland R&D High School:
“We’ve done some things with restorative justice, which is basically the opposite of the old-school, punitive, ‘you’re bad, get out, we’ll suspend you’ [approach]. We found that just wasn’t effective. The idea is now, we need you to follow the rules, but if you break the rules, or break some trust, or have conflict with a teacher, there’s a system in place to restore things. And that’s been pretty miraculous in terms of building relationships with students and keeping kids here.”
At Lighthouse Community Charter School (K-12), restorative justice practices are used regularly, even in situations without conflict. Students in the upper grades belong to “crews,” small learning communities that are more supportive than traditional ‘homerooms’ and are guided by a teacher or coach. Crews use ‘Tier 1 circles’ to get to know each other and build community, love and trust. When major conflicts arise, a crew holds a ‘Tier 3 circle’ where the students talk about the harm that’s occurred and what do they need in order to be successful when they return to school.
Courtney Cerefice, Director of Response to Intervention at Lighthouse Community Charter School, says:
“Behavior occurs in response to something or in response to a need — it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We found it to be much more successful in terms of behavior modification, if students are held accountable to their peers. The circle with peers has been the most powerful shift. We’ve definitely experienced over the years a drop in recurring suspensions and problematic behaviors.”
Photo: Students at Epic Middle School, which uses restorative circles to recognize harm and resolve conflicts. Photo courtesy of Hasain Rasheed.
Coach K, the Physical Education teacher at Epic Middle School, explains:
“We have restorative justice, that’s what Epic is about. We have the kids do a circle and families come in, and we try to mediate to see what’s going on. That process is seeing how we can get to the root of the issue and have healing around that, versus just up and saying ‘you’re a bad kid, you get suspended’.”
Restorative justice can start a ripple effect that increases student engagement and improves academic results throughout a school and community.
With more Oakland charter public schools adopting restorative justice, here’s hoping that Oakland youth can move from conflict to healing.
Educators, administrators, students, parents, and communities interested in learning more about Restorative Justice can look at these resources:
- Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY): http://rjoyoakland.org/about/
- GO Public Schools, Suspending the Suspension Problem, From Racial Bias to Restorative Justice: https://gopublicschoolsoakland.org/2016/04/suspending-the-suspension-problem/
- Restorative Justice Theory Resources: http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/rj-outside-criminal-justice/#sthash.2thYq1Tz.dpbs
- International Institute for Restorative Practices: http://iirp.org/
- Safer Saner Schools: http://www.safersanerschools.org
- Office of the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Children’s Justice: https://oag.ca.gov/bcj
- Balanced and Restorative Justice: An Information Manual for California: http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/BARJManual3.pdf
