Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I asked the original question — and here is my follows up.)

So the article on RJ from Canada merely compares this alternative process relative to criminal adjudication via court. Alas, it really doesn’t “apples-to-apples” apply to a school system yet, I found it interesting. I would be more interested in reports detailing which situations RJ works best in primary and secondary schools.

My follow up question — if RJ provided no help to a child who acts out/hateful words/physical violence nor the community trying to address the troubled child and the damage around them — how does the school deal with such situations? Can it be that all of these kids referenced in this thread just moved to a new school?

I know schools are moving away from out of school suspension (rightfully in my opinion) and toward in school suspension — but what other tools are available?

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) seems to be the model for RJ. There are lots of articles about their use of RJ. There are also mentions of Chicago, Brooklyn, and a few other areas you can google.

The implementation of RJ in the DMV area seems to have largely failed, which is why no one talks about it glowingly over here. Too much reliance on teachers to implement RJ and not enough dedicated RJ facilitators from what I can gather.

Part of the problem is that effective RJ requires an investment most school districts don't have the budget for. Even then it's not a cure all. The offender has to be willing to take responsibility and make meaningful restitution. Schools still need traditional forms of punishment to deal with offenders who don't take it seriously.

Anonymous wrote:RJ is not supposed to be replacement for consequences like suspensions. However, that it what is has been turned into to allow schools to claim they have reduced disparities in suspensions. That is why it has such a negative reaction around here.

That said, there are a lot of good things that can come out of RJ, that are very quiet. The negative experiences get a far bigger reaction, usually due to poor implementation or put on students who are obviously repeat offenders and don't buy into RJ.

Anonymous wrote:(I asked the original question — and here is my follows up.)

So the article on RJ from Canada merely compares this alternative process relative to criminal adjudication via court. Alas, it really doesn’t “apples-to-apples” apply to a school system yet, I found it interesting. I would be more interested in reports detailing which situations RJ works best in primary and secondary schools.

My follow up question — if RJ provided no help to a child who acts out/hateful words/physical violence nor the community trying to address the troubled child and the damage around them — how does the school deal with such situations? Can it be that all of these kids referenced in this thread just moved to a new school?

I know schools are moving away from out of school suspension (rightfully in my opinion) and toward in school suspension — but what other tools are available?

Anonymous wrote:Might be useful in ECE. In upper ES and beyond it does not work. Kids need boundaries and consequences. When there are no real consequences they figure it out real quick. A conversation about how they made someone feel and having to apologize is not a consequence.

Anonymous wrote:I am the originator of the question — and I have heard nothing favorable about this type of process. I mean, I am surprised that there isn’t one single example of victims feeling more positive.

I wonder if any of you had the RJ-specialist from the central office oversee your RJ process — ?

Anonymous wrote:I think most people's liking of restorative justice lasts until the second time their kid gets hit. Then that's the end of it.

Anonymous wrote:Nope even the Ron Brown school that heralded the use found out after the first year how tough it is and learned that it doesn’t work for students who are serious offenders. There is a podcast about it and some reporters did a follow up a year or so after the school opened. It takes a massive amount of training and staff resources that most schools won’t have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Restorative justice seems like it offers many rewards – but is that only in theory?

I seek instances were restorative justice was particularly helpful; and what was it that made it so –

There are many factors that vary, for instance do parents/guardians need to be there in order to make it work? If parents and guardians are not present, is it really restorative justice - or just students in an office being told to say sorry.

Does someone have an experience where the bullying ("You're stupid and ugly”)/hitting/pushing/kicking actually diminished after a restorative justice circle?

Why would parents need to be there? IMO having parents involved is one of the LEAST restorative ways to handle problems between kids. Because it becomes all about the parents being appeased or getting defensive, and nothing about the kids.