Tri-County Citizen

Chalk Talk

Kuehn-Haven M.S. part of National Institute of Justice study


When passing by Room 12 you will see students sitting in a circle with our Climate and Restorative Practices Specialist, Brooke Albert. Mrs. Albert guides the students through a series of restorative questions to help students build empathy and conflict resolution skills. The day’s circle involved a student who was being bullied. Students began with describing what happened, what they were thinking or feeling at the time, what they have thought about since the incident, who’s been affected and how, and what they think needs to happen to make it right. Each student passes a talking piece that allows them to speak and be heard by the group one at a time answering each of the questions. By the end of the circle students are aware of their actions and the effect on their peers. In this day’s circle four students were participating. The responsible student acknowledged his bullying/mean actions and stated, “I am sorry for hurting you.” The harmed student said, “I accept your apology.” The offended student then replied, “I feel like I need to do something more to make this right. I will make sure that my friends and others are treating you kindly.” The next day, Mrs. Albert checked in on the situation and the responsible student had followed through on his promise and the conflict was more than resolved. (This is a true story that describes a typical Restorative Circle focused on problem-solving a conflict.)

In collaboration with Genesee Intermediate School District, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Kuehn- Haven Middle School is part of a National Institute of Justice Research Study designed to measure the impact of Restorative Practices in schools. Our fifth and sixth grade teaching teams have been trained in Youth Mental Health First Aide and Restorative Practices. The training prepared teaching staff on how to implement the practices within their instructional day. The grant is a two year study that provides Kuehn-Haven with a full time Climate and Restorative Practices specialist and a part time School Resource Officer on staff to support the teaching staff on the implementation of the grant. “The most critical function of restorative practices is restoring and building relationships.” Costello, Wachtel, and Wachtel, 2010.

Throughout Kuehn-Haven Middle School Restorative Circles such as the one described above are used daily to build community, solve conflicts, and check on academic progress. The Circling Up of students allows each student at KHMS to be seen and heard. The Restorative Practices grant has been in place for only one semester and we are already seeing changes in how students relate to one another. Students themselves are asking for a circle to help them solve conflicts with their peers.

When asked the question: “What is your favorite thing about being a part of a restorative circle?” the voices of our KHMS students speak for themselves:

“What we say in our circle stays in our circle.” “You can say what you want and you won’t get made fun of.”

“You have attention.”

“When you are talking no else is.”

“You get to learn about people you don’t know.”

“I can tell my side of the story.”

“It feels like we get a second chance.”

“You get to find out why people feel the way they do.”

“It takes the pressure off and you get help solving a problem you don’t know how to solve yourself.”

We are encouraged to see these positive early results and are excited to see the progressive impact of the Restorative Practices on our school community climate and culture. Kuehn- Haven Middle School is taking a proactive approach in teaching students strong communication and conflict resolution skills which we believe will be of benefit to help our Montrose community grow stronger.

Rhonda Barber, principal,
and Brooke Albert, climate and restorative
practice specialist