How to Customize Restorative Conferences that Reshape Discipline and Restore Relationships at Your School

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Derrick C. BaileyFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Lovinggood Middle School

First Presenter’s Email Address

derrick.bailey@cobbk12.org

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Derrick Bailey has served in education for more than 18 years. He is currently a Middle School Principal in Cobb County, Georgia, and a restorative conference trainer and consultant. Mr. Bailey is trained in Restorative Conferencing and consistently utilizes restorative practices. As an active restorative practice practitioner, he has consistently presented on the strategies he has used to establish a restorative culture. Mr. Bailey’s presentation history includes presenting at the Innovative Schools Summit in San Antonio, Texas, the PBIS Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, and International Institute for Restorative Practices in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bailey received his Train the Trainer distinction through coursework and training provided by the International Institute for Restorative Practices. His goal is to transform mindsets on discipline and relationships by exploring innovative restorative practices that work.

Location

Session Two Breakouts

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention

Relevance

Restorative Conferences can be used to restore harm that has occurred and prevent harm in the future. It provides participants a safe space to explore ways to communicate effectively and channel their emotions in a positive manner. Restorative conferences may prevent disagreements from becoming violent and worsening over time.

Brief Program Description

Participants will learn how to set up and conduct a restorative conference. Participants will work through analyzing scenarios of actual conferences as they prepare a list of things to avoid and watch out for. Participants will be provided a step-by-step process to use as they customize how restorative conferencing will look at their school.

Summary

Although restorative conferences are scripted, to be effective, it will not look the same for every school. The Proposal reflects a presentation that will provide guidance on how to set up and conduct an effective restorative conference. It will also reflect how to customize restorative conferences to best benefit a particular school regardless of where the school personnel are in the restorative process. We will cover fundamental questions to ask prior to deciding how restorative conferences will fit in their school. Participants will be provided a document to fill out and take back to their institutions to guide the discussion on how to develop or add value to the process of using restorative conferences to restore relationships. Participants will begin filling in the document during the presentation. Participants will be able to decide the scenarios in which a restorative conference may or may not be appropriate. This will be based on the structures and supports that already exist in their school. We will compare typical conferences and restorative conferences as we weigh the pros and cons of both methods. We will watch a short, edited clip of an actual conference I facilitated and have an open discussion on the subtleties of the video. I will demonstrate ways to collect and analyze data to assess the effectiveness of restorative conferencing. Participants will be able to identify the data points that would be most valuable at their school. Participants will establish a long-term goal based on the information they obtain during the presentation. This will be followed by establishing short term goals that can be achieved as they work toward their long-term goal.

Evidence

The Restorative Justice Conferencing book written by Ted Wachtel, Terry O’Connell & Ben Wachtel serves as the foundation for restorative conferencing. This is a very important resource as Mr. O’Connell not only adopted some of the principles of conferencing from the family group conferencing concept in New Zealand, but he also authored what is now known as the restorative conference script. The authors not only provide several real-life stories of restorative conference application, but they also provide the official procedures for a restorative conference. In the Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education, Katherine Evans and Dorothy Vaandering provide a look into the history of restorative justice. Although restorative justice is rooted in the criminal justice system, the authors provide strategies on implementing it in education. The need for alternatives to solely relying on punitive consequences is supported by several books and articles. Great Colombi and David Osher in a published article entitled Advancing School Discipline Reform describe how suspensions lead to low self-esteem and low academic progress. In addition, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is little evidence that suggest suspensions are succeeding as a deterrent to negative behaviors. Australian criminologist John Braithwaite has published work on his concept of shame being used for reintegration as opposed to stigmatizing. This is the basis of restorative conferencing. Although restorative practices fall under a huge umbrella, restorative conferencing plays a major role in relationship building. As an active restorative conference practitioner, I have collected perception and discipline data that suggest restorative conferences are effective.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to conduct an effective restorative conference.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to customize the use of restorative conferences at their school.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to collect and analyze data to assess the effectiveness of their restorative conferences.

Keyword Descriptors

Restorative, Conferences, Relationships, Harm, Conflict, Communication, Redemption, Discipline

Presentation Year

2022

Start Date

3-7-2022 1:00 PM

End Date

3-7-2022 2:15 PM

Recommended Citation

Bailey, Derrick C., "How to Customize Restorative Conferences that Reshape Discipline and Restore Relationships at Your School" (2022). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 15.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2022/2022/15