KQED News Mind/Shift – Katrina Schwartz
“After school one day, a middle school girl got physically aggressive with one of her peers while still on school property. At some schools she would have been suspended or expelled for assaulting another student, but High Tech Middle Chula Vista is experimenting with restorative practices. So, instead of taking that typical disciplinary step, school leaders called the two students and their families in for a meeting, where they discussed what had led up to the point where she boiled over and lashed out. “It was incredibly deep and emotional,” said Rhea Brown, a recent graduate of the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, who was working in the school at the time. Not only were the students able to talk through the underlying issues of the fight, but the student who would have been suspended ended up feeling reconnected to the school community, not alienated. And, she became a big advocate for restorative practices, often pushing students in conflict to meet with the social and emotional coach to work out their problems.”(more)