HCSD & HSHS to implement Restorative Practices

What is it?
Restorative Justice (RJ) is a powerful approach to discipline that focuses on repairing harm through inclusive processes that engage all stakeholders. Implemented well, RJ shifts the focus of discipline from punishment to learning and from the individual to the community.
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In other words, restorative justice processes ideally allow for a voluntary, face-to-face dialogue between the person who committed the harm, the victim, and community members supporting the person who harmed and the victim. This dialogue is intended for the victim to identify his/her needs, and for the person who harmed to take accountability for his/her actions and to come up with ways in which they can meet the victim’s needs.

Restorative justice is not punitive. It is not “an eye for an eye.” The repair that the person who harmed must do is determined by a conversation with the victim and her supporters, and does not have to be equal to or even related to the harm. It must be restorative in nature, rather than punitive.

There are MANY Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice is just one of those practices…Many initiatives that are already being used within the district fall underneath the umbrella of building affective engagement, as well as within the umbrella of restorative justice.

These include:  
Trauma-Informed Care- Power of Peace- My Brother’s Keeper- TAC-D    
Mindfulness- PTO- PBIS- SHAPE- ACE- Responsive Classroom- Code Switching                       

Mediation- CIrcles- Viewing and discussing of Paper Tigers- Poverty Simulation- Counseling Services

Stay tuned! More to come......

Mr. L
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Mr. LaCasse- Associate Principal

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