March 2009

The Success of Restorative Justice

By Salma Shukri

Below is a letter written by a teacher in Littleton High School, Paul Loupe, to his principal. The Mr. Loupe was a participant in one of The Conflict Center’s workshops on Restorative Justice. After completing the seminar, Mr. Loupe implemented Restorative Justice in his class and speaks of its success. He shares his story of the effectiveness of the technique.

 

 

Mr. Begier,

 

After I attended the Restorative Justice Seminar on Monday, I was skeptical.  I though that identifying offender and victim would not work in the classroom.  I could never complete pre-conferences or assign advocates. It seemed like the circles of collaboration were really meant for minor criminal acts and rule violators who already felt a sense of remorse. Maybe, I thought, we could apply this to administrative discipline, but my classroom is not built for the circles.  Students would use it as an opportunity to abuse others verbally or they would not accept any guilt/blame or admit regret.

 

When I returned to my office on Tuesday, there was a negative note about my 7th period Language Arts class.  They were called "rude" and "disrespectful".  The sub wrote about their unwillingness to try to complete the assignment.  I agreed that many of the students were capable of this behavior, but I also knew that I have a relationship with these students. They are good people, and while they can act disrespectful, they are mostly good-natured.  I decided to swing into action with my new friend, the Restorative Justice circle.

 

I asked Mr. Spare to come and act of co-facilitator by taking notes.  I set the ground rules at the beginning of class and gave them the context for our discussion.  I told them about the note from the sub and my skepticism of the truthfulness of it, but also my simultaneous disappointment about their behavior.  The ground rules were, no talking over other, no name-calling or finger-pointing, and to have a general respect for opinions. All participation should be positive and honest, and participation was not required, but distraction was not allowed.

 

I asked the first question; What harm was done? I handed off the talking stick (a broken stapler).  Students began to recount the harms.  The sub was harmed because he felt disrespected when the students talked over him at the start of class.  The students were harmed because the sub purposefully ignored them, did not write the instructions on the board, and was negligent (their word) when he put on his headphones for the entire period.  The students identified that our relationship was harmed as I may resent their actions.  One student admitted that she responded to his reading of the instructions by refusing to write them down.  Another student remarked that the sub responded with anger when someone laughed, even when they were working, then attempted inappropriate sarcasm when a student asked to go to the bathroom.   I had Mr. Spare review all the harms they mentioned.

 

I asked the second question; Who is affected by the harms? Several students remarked that future classes who had that sub would also be treated poorly or even worse than what they saw due to this experience (I hadn't thought of that).   The class as a whole faces the discussion and therefore pays a price.  The students let me explain how I may lose some respect from my superiors and the relationship between me and the class could be threatened.  I had Mr. Spare review the affected people.

 

I asked the last question; How can you repair the harms? Now they were getting it.  They said that they should write a letter of apology.  They could write an essay about their experience.  They openly apologized to me. They made commitments to have better behavior when a sub arrives.  They committed to having better behavior generally to restore our relationship. They asked me to commit to requesting a sub with Language Arts experience. I let them chose the repair of their choice.  There would be no recourse other than the action they took.

 

I thanked them for their honesty and the respect they showed me and their peers through the process.  I have never seen students act with such raw emotions in reflection of their own actions.  It was not a waste of time.  It was great for me to reconnect with students who I did resent for their actions.  They genuinely appreciated having a voice.  They gave me information I would not have otherwise known.

 

So, now I am an advocate.  I would be happy to share my information and resources about restorative justice circles.  I would like to see how we move from punishment to discipline on the administrative level, and I would like to be involved if possible.  Please share my story with the administrative staff.  We all learned from this and our relationship is stronger because of it.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Spare for sharing his limited time with my class and having a great, objective attitude.

 

Thanks,

Have a good day,

Paul Loupe

Language Arts