Rosa Parks Elementary School Welcomes Restorative Justice Team

By: Altynai Myrzabekova

The 4th grade students of Rosa Parks School had a chance to learn about the Restorative Justice program at Longfellow Middle School with the help of mediators and other students. The Longfellow Restorative Justice team went to several classrooms to demonstrate the circle process to 4th grade students, where they could share
their knowledge and experience in Restorative Justice.

According to the RJ team, the initial goal of this event was to change the discipline structure at the school level and to address the “school to prison pipeline” issue that takes place in public schools in the US. The Restorative Justice Coordinator of SEEDS, Lisa Abregu, comments that students get stuck in a cycle of negative behavior that eventually lands them in adult prisons, which is why it is called the “school to prison pipeline.” Restorative Justice provides a process for addressing conflict between students that focuses on building relationships. The distinctive feature of Restorative Justice is that it addresses more the emotional needs of these children, which does not look at them simply as the rule breakers. “When you have the ability to see a student for everything that affects them, their reaction to their actions are going to be different,” Abregu said.

Why do we need Restorative Justice in schools?

As organizers comment, the Restorative Justice helps to see children as individuals who have many different factors that affect them. “It helps the staff to see them in different light. And address everything related to them in a conflict in a totally different way which keeps them out of whole pipeline going to suspension. Once in suspension, a lot of these kids who are chronic detention or suspension goers do not have much support at home, so they wander around and get into more trouble, or maybe at home there is an adult, but he or she does not have enough influence,” Abregu said. Therefore, Restorative Justice circles keep them in a healthy environment that helps them develop into the people they have a potential to be. According to Abergu, this keeps them at school and the circle process gives them context to understand themselves. So, that is why it important to have Restorative Justice Process at school.

Feedback from Longfellow students:

One student on the Longfellow Restorative Justice team commented, "I have done a circle just with my friends, without teachers, and it was a really good experience."

Another member of the Restorative Justice team at Longfellow explained to the 4th graders that "Restorative Justice is learning to communicate positively."

During the circle with Longfellow students, a 4th grader said, "empathy is where you try to learn about how someone else feels."

The team at Longfellow explained their process as follows: "At Longfellow, we meet to talk about issues and think of community builders. The goal of the Restorative Justice team is to make better communication happen."