Goal
The goal of The Conflict Center’s Full-School Program is to provide
administration, teachers, support staff, students and parents with the
skills necessary to manage their conflict and anger in order to create
a more restorative school culture.
Full School Program Description
TCC’s full school program is a three-stage, or three-year process.
Each stage has a different emphasis as TCC helps a school move towards
a restorative model that will sustain itself long term. Every level of
the school is involved, including administration, teachers, support staff,
students and parents. Each stage involves numerous assessments, both statistical
and anecdotal, in order to determine the effectiveness of the programming.
This program is designed for elementary and/or K-8 schools.
Key Values
1. Violence in youth is the result of a very specific, 4-stage process
that can be recognized, identified, interrupted, reversed, and most importantly,
prevented.
2. The key to intervening in and preventing this 4-stage process is to
establish a community where each person is provided the tangible opportunity
to connect and belong.
3. Schools provide the greatest hope and opportunity for this community.
4. Restorative Principles help to establish this community by creating
an environment in which offenses are seen as harm against the community,
and opportunities are therefore provided to both offenders and victims
to repair this harm.
5. At the heart of this community lies a foundation of democracy in which
each individual has the opportunity to be a part of and participate in
this community.
6. In order to achieve this type of community, an organization must embrace
these philosophies and practices at all levels, from the founding values
to the day-to-day operating systems.
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Stage
1: Empowering Staff
In the first stage, TCC works directly with staff to
train them in violence awareness and prevention, inter-personal skills,
anger and conflict management, and restorative classroom discipline. Teachers
are then provided with a curriculum to use with their students so that
these skills are passed on to them. The first year is used to develop
buy-in, on all levels of the school.
Stage 2: Systems Analysis
In stage two, the students are trained in peer mediation
and provided direct opportunities to model these skills. In addition,
year two is spent working with a small team (representing admin, teachers,
support staff, and the parent community) to analyze the school’s
mission, goals, and current operating systems in order to determine their
ability to support a restorative model. This team also receives additional
training as they prepare to take on a leadership role in year three.
Stage 3: Creating Sustainability
In stage three, TCC works with the leadership team to
rewrite and/or realign all policies, handbooks, discipline practices and
school systems to support a restorative model. Additional programs and
events are developed to enhance a restorative culture. TCC also works
with the leadership team to establish a five year plan that will ensure
the sustainability of all changes
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