Restorative Discipline Practices

LTS may utilize a wide variety of restorative discipline practices, which are designed to build a sense of school community based on cooperation, mutual understanding, trust, and respect, and emphasize the importance of positive relationships and pro-social relationships between students. Specifically, LTS believes that when students engage in inappropriate conduct, restorative discipline practices may hold the potential to:

• Build trust, respect, and relationships
• Develop self-discipline and positive behaviors
• Encourage accountability and responsibility in the school community
• Establish mutual understanding
• Help students understand the harm caused by the misconduct
• Identify and respond to the needs of the person harmed and the person who caused the harm
• Increase parent partnerships
• Promote equitable input from all stakeholders
• Reintegrate students who have caused harm in the school community
• Strengthen school culture

Essentially, the restorative approach sees misbehavior or conflict as an opportunity for students to learn about consequences for their actions, develop empathy for others, and learn methods to make amends in a way that strengthens interpersonal bonds.

Examples of restorative discipline practices may include, but are not limited to,

• affective statements;
• apologies;
• community building circles;
• mediation;
• relationship building;
• repairing harm circles;
• restitution;
• restorative circles or conferences; and
• restorative dialogues/making agreements.

Restorative discipline practices may take the form of alternatives in lieu of other disciplinary consequences allowed under the Code of Conduct and/or supplemental action taken along with other disciplinary consequences.

Restorative discipline practices are a collaborative process, and may not be required or appropriate in all student discipline situations.