Oakland school board approves district-wide restorative justice initiative despite budget crisis

from Lillian R.Mongeau's article in OaklandNorth.net:

In other business, the board voted Wednesday night to implement a district-wide “Restorative Justice” initiative....

Restorative Justice focuses on “acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities, it insists that justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that process,” according to the Prison Fellowship International’s Restorative Justice Online web site.  In schools, this takes the form of training teachers and students to practice active communication, face-to-face reconciliation and non-punitive actions to address misconduct.

Nikita Mitchell, 16,is  a junior at Castlemont High where her group, Youth Together, has been trained in restorative justice practices.  She said that a key part of the program is better communication.  A teacher who notices a student is upset or acting out, for instance, can enter the information into a computer system that the “teacher of record” for the restorative justice program will check daily.  That teacher will then refer a trained student to have a one-on-one meeting with the upset student to talk about the problem and work on solutions like apologies, mediation, or “peacemaking circles,” in which members of the community share their feelings and come to a consensus about how to move past inappropriate actions.

Feb 01, 2010 Policy, School

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