Restorative Practices Program

Growing Restorative Practices Throughout SPS

Restorative Practices in Seattle Public Schools reached a new collective audience this summer. During the second week of August, SPSSeattle Public Schools More building leaders attended the annual School Leader Institute (SLI). Among the range of topics pertinent to the scope of building leaders’ responsibilities, there was a specific day-long theme centering Restorative Practices. Included in this day were community-building activities, breakout sessions and an overall orientation about Restorative Practices and their place throughout our district.

One of the highlights of the day was hearing from the collective wisdom offered by building leaders. Keyunda Wilson from Emerson Elementary, John Houston from Whitman Middle School, Ray Garcia-Morales from Chief Sealth International High School and Katie Virga, an experienced building leader from the Oakland Unified School District (and currently a Principal Leadership Coach for SPSSeattle Public Schools More) shared challenges, successes, considerations, relevant anecdotes and general wisdom related to cultivating a restorative culture in their school communities.

Breakout sessions included topics such as considerations in Student-centered Discipline, Practical Tools and Strategies for Implementing Restorative Practices and Restorative Conferences. These sessions were offered by leaders in Seattle Public Schools from school buildings, who are community partners and who work in SPSSeattle Public Schools More Central Office.

Overall, the day was full of hope, connection and wisdom about how Seattle Public Schools can be one that centers students’ wellness and joy in learning and in life.

Thank you!!! Wa-BLoC Team for sharing this story!!!!

WA-BLOC Supports Seattle Schools and Families

We are WA-BLOC, an organization working at the intersection of education and social justice in South Seattle’s Black and brown communities with a mission to build and nurture intergenerational leaders through transformative education and revolutionary social action. Working with multiple schools across South Seattle/SPS, we provide space for healing and joy among black and brown youth and help schools cultivate and sustain school-wide restorative practices. Students and staff are equipped through our Restorative Justice programs with tools to build community, help resolve conflicts, and address school policies and systems that perpetuate trauma and harm.

Restorative Practice for Schools – Emerson Elementary

At Emerson Elementary School, over 80 3rd-5th graders have learned about the practice of Circle Keeping, its Indigenous roots, and how to have intentional dialogue and practice peacemaking during conflicts as peer “Peacekeepers.” With our support, every classroom also participates in weekly community-building circles, creating a school culture that accelerates social-emotional connection and skill building, student voice, and academic learning. For AAPI month, we equipped teachers with weekly themed community building circles to give their scholars additional opportunities to reflect on, learn about, and celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage, leadership, and social action. Circle themes included AAPI heroes in history like Grace Lee Boggs, Wing Luke, and Aki Kurose, who have led for change, community, solidarity, and justice.

School administrators and staff have also participated in aligned professional development training opportunities for Tier 1-2 restorative practices throughout the school year. These combined efforts and deep collaboration with Emerson staff has led to increased feelings of connection and belonging among students and staff, a 90% reduction in student suspensions and decreased instances of harm throughout the school year since 2018 through the use of Restorative Justice practices

Restorative Practices for Families

Restorative practices aren’t just to support healthy school communities but can also be adopted into our home and family cultures! This past month, WA-BLOC hosted our second Restorative Justice Family Night for Emerson Elementary scholars and families. Lena Nguyen, our Restorative Justice Practitioner reflected:

“With the endless support of Emerson teachers, staff, and students, we held a space filled with joy, love, and appreciation for the community that has grown at Emerson Elementary. The night started with a grounding in the Restorative work that happens at Emerson through student peacekeepers: three scholars shared about their leadership experiences and wisdom they’ve gleaned from supporting their peers. Their families beamed with pride witnessing their children share about their important roles in the Emerson community. Families created their own centerpieces with the guidance of their children. Words and themes that were prevalent in all centerpieces were “play, gratitude, love, and celebration with family”! We witnessed a few parents hold onto emotional reactions witnessing their children fill their centerpieces with symbols that represented their family with love and care. After completing their centerpieces, families took them into circles- which were held in six different home languages- and shared their experiences around their child(ren)’s growth this year. They shared that their children have experienced growth in confidence, happiness and friendship because of the Emerson community. Families expressed their sense of belonging at the school, personally and for their children. It was a powerful experience that spoke to the dedication and work teachers at Emerson are doing every day to create a safe and welcoming school experience for scholars.”

WA-BLOC is honored to be able to co-create and share spaces like this with the Emerson community and so grateful for all the amazing teachers who showed their support that night! We cannot wait to keep building this work alongside families at Emerson!

Cultivating and Nurturing a Restorative Justice Community Across SPSSeattle Public Schools More

As a continuation of the RJ Kickoff events that took place earlier this school year, we were excited to gather educators and building leaders in two community practice sessions on April 26 and May 17 at Nova High School. Seattle Public Schools’ Restorative Practices team, Huayruro, and WA-BLOC facilitated 6 circles for elementary and secondary school staff and administrators. Sessions focused on skill-building around the Peacemaking Circle Process and addressing questions from educators and building leaders about implementing classroom and school-wide Restorative Practices in their respective communities.

Get involved with WA-BLOC

Sign up for the WA-BLOC newsletter or follow us on Instragram to stay up to date on our work and opportunities to collaborate with and support us! For other information or inquiries, email us at info@wa-bloc.org.

Community Partner & Seattle Public Schools Visioning Event at Garfield High School

Following a landscape analysis at the end of the ’21-’22 school year that sought to learn about restorative practices around the SPSSeattle Public Schools More District, the Restorative Team partnered with Wa-Bloc, Huayruro, Solutions by Cadenas, CCS Unlimited, The Roots of Us, DEEL and others to host a community gathering of restorative practitioners from the Seattle area. The hope for this gathering was to connect, to strengthen the restorative community supporting the students and families in SPSSeattle Public Schools More and to form a collective understanding of restorative practices so that students throughout the city have a cohesive experience related to restorative practices and community harmony.

Without a sense of community connection and belonging, then what are we restoring to? The following resources are to support practices that focus on community building, establishing trust, and foster relationships in general. These include samples of circles that can be modeled after, practices that can be used spontaneously and games or activities that build a sense of belonging and connection.

Scholar Community Building Brainstorm K-5 – Collection of resources activities, games and questions to build community in K-5 settings. (Generated by Wa-Bloc)

Helpful Hints Circle Prep Form

A tremendous resource to guide the planning of a restorative practice circle that includes important pieces, considerations, a worksheet to guide thinking and some history to inform a deeper understanding. Created by RJOY

Potential Classroom Examples of Tier 1 Community Building Practices – below is a list of potential classroom community-building practices that can foster the foundation for restoration and community harmony. (Generated by WA-BLOC):

• Community building games
• Greeting scholars
• Saying student’s names correctly
• Affirmations/recognitions
• Creating check-in time for standing meetings
• Co-crafted community agreements/class charter/staff charter
• Calling families (positive things as well)
• Showing up for family night/curriculum nights
• Incorporating student interests/culture in classroom
• Mindfulness/breathing exercises
• Using talking piece for class discussion/incorporating circle elements during class time
• Soliciting student feedback on assignments/having them self evaluate
• Modeling accountability/normalizing mistakes/humility
• Using intentional questions to discuss personal and shared values
• Staff appreciation activities/gestures
• Follow through
• Creating structure for kids who need to learn there is consistency/predictability
• Schedule and class expectations and revisiting those regularly
• Calm down corners/regulation spaces

When the community has been disrupted or there has been an instance of conflict in need of a restorative resolution and/or repair, there are resources that can support that effort. Here are some materials that can be modeled after or applied to support resolution and repair to a conflict you may be working through.

Cleveland HS STEM Discipline Flowchart – This example comes from Cleveland High School identifies considerations that could inform how to respond to behaviors that have caused harm to the community in order to reach a restorative focused outcome.

Beacon Hill International Restorative Questions Card – This example from Beacon Hill International of a tool from and questions that support engaging with individuals in your school community from a restorative stance.

John Hay Peace Path – This example from John Hay is a worksheet to support students’ efforts to solve conflicts and recognize each other for kind actions.

John Hay Blue Reflection Sheet – This example from John Hay is a worksheet aims to prompt students to reflect on what happened, their feelings and the feelings of others and to find a positive way forward.

In addition to practices at Tier 1 and Tier 2, attention should be given to thinking and practices that exist across the school community as a system. Such systems-level thinking can best ensure there is consistency in the practices and experiences that show up throughout a school community.

Oakland Unified School District Restorative Justice Implementation Guide – This is a resource to support a Restorative Practice facilitator/coordinator in implementing a school-wide Restorative program at their site. It comes with broader, higher level questions related to principles of RJ and general steps to follow; down to more granular elements that include templates and reflective questions.

San Francisco Unified School District Restorative Practice Principles– A set of principles that reflect the values for implementing restorative practices in SFUSD.

There is so much to learn about Restorative Practices, its history, its application and what the most essential elements are that can ensure the work is done with integrity and honoring its spirit. To better understand the general philosophy inherent to a restorative approach there are collection of resources below and recommendations for further reading.

SPS Restorative Training from TRI-Days – This is a collection of videos that captured many layers of restorative activity from all-district training days from 2016.

Mindful Schools: Restorative Justice in Schools video – an example of a restorative circle