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Identify the part(s) of your plan you were able to implement.

After some team reflection and discussion of staff feedback, I was able to bring up the idea of Restorative Practices to our MBI team. We decided that my principal, our school counselor and I would attend a half day introduction to Restorative Practices training to get more information. From there, my principal charged me with creating a short presentation to give our staff a little bit of background knowledge that would help us determine whether or not we would pursue more formal training. 96% of staff said they were willing to learn more, and we determined that we would start with a book study.

My principal and I then attended a two day workshop to learn from Dr. Bella Bikowsky. The intent was to learn so that we could support staff learning, and to determine if she would be a good fit for further PD as a school. She suggested some titles we could use as introductory learning with our staff. We will be bringing Dr. Bikowsky to our school for at least 2 days of professional development during the 20-21 school year.

We planned our book club to happen after Spring Break. While we were out for break, our state mandated a shelter in place and schools were closed. After the first month of remote learning, my principal and I discussed offering the book club virtually. It was a voluntary option, and there was great interest amongst staff. (See planning notes, resources and agenda below.)

How successful was your plan of action at addressing the challenge?

I was able to gauge interest levels from staff in learning more about Restorative Practices, and we were able to begin our learning journey. I was able to attend some training, and work with my principal and staff to learn more through a book study. The work of rewriting our policies and procedures did not happen, YET. That will be the work of the next year.

Which stakeholders and policy were impacted?

Staff members at my school, as well as my building administrator have begun our learning journey. Staff members were challenged to reflect on readings and conversations, and were given the opportunity to practice leading a virtual community circle. We determined that we are committed to implementing community circles in every classroom next year, while we learn more about the restoring and repairing part of restorative practices. I believe that once we are back to school, our kids and families will see a difference as we work through building our restorative mindset.

How do you know?

I believe there will be impact on nearly all stake holders based on participation in the book study. Twenty five current staff members, and four people who will be new staff members next year participated in the virtual book study. (See feedback below.) This means the right now, our staff and administration has been impacted, and the learning we did, in connection with the plans we made together for fall, will impact our students and families.

How were your four chosen competencies used in the implementation of your project?

Reflective Practices:

• We made our decisions based on data collected from staff over the course of multiple years.

• Staff members were encouraged to reflect and journal throughout the book study. They were also given the opportunity to share reflections if they wanted.

• Because of the group reflection activities, we committed to implementing community circles in our classrooms in the fall, and to learning more about restorative practices. We will begin to look at our MTSS practices, our school handbook and eventually district policies over the course of the next year.

Group Processes:

• We used a virtual community circle as a staff to begin some discussion about some controversial topics that we might face in the fall. As someone who has been at our school for a long time, and participated in many difficult staff decisions, this felt like one of the safest, and most honest conversations we've had. This will be a tool we will continue to use in the future.

• After working through our book study, each teacher was given the opportunity to lead a smaller community circle of adults. It was interesting to hear from teachers that this made them nervous initially, but when they were done, they appreciated the opportunity. It was a reminder that we are all great at leading our groups of students, but need the vote of confidence to lead staff as well. We have some staff members that have great things to share, but aren't always given (or take) the opportunity. Hopefully this was the start in giving ALL staff members the confidence to take the lead at times.

Diversity, Equity, and Cultural Competence:

• Our book study brought together groups of teachers from across all K-5 grade bands, some of our support staff, and some new to building staff members. It provided us opportunities to discuss equity in terms of our current practices, and what our individual visions of what an equitable school would look like. Many of our staff members have experience in one or two grade levels, and sometimes it's difficult to see how relationship building or learning happens for older or younger students. Hearing different perspectives, and having the chance to talk through concerns via circle protocols, (even virtually,) was a great learning opportunity for all.

• Our conversations about equity led the group to ask more questions than we had answers for. We discussed the ways that we currently support, (and learn about,) our refugee family experience. We also had many conversations about potentially problematic stories (in terms of cultural representation) within our recently adopted ELA curriculum. We have not solved issues, but have built an awareness, and a willingness to learn.

Policy:

• Sharing MBI data from the last three years helped our staff come to the conclusion that we need to rethink our building procedures and policies. There was a desire for a list of "consequences" from staff. After our book study and initial learning opportunities, we have built some understanding that restorative practices are not a menu choice, but rather a framework and foundation. In order to get to the place that we can rewrite our building policies, we must do the collective learning work.

What obstacles, if any, did you encounter?

The pandemic forcing shelter in place and remote learning created an unforeseen hurdle. Though we were still able to make the book study and learning part of the project happen, the follow up on actually changing our policies was put on hold. The opportunity to share this learning with our district's anti-bias working group was also put on hold.

After our first week of book club, one staff member reached out to me and told me she was dropping the book study. She was feeling overwhelmed with remote learning. She also expressed some concern that this would be a mandate from our principal and that she felt we already did a lot of this at our school.

There was one grade level team that chose to not participate in the book study. Because we were not seeing each other in person, I was not able to gauge if this choice was due to the extra commitment during our remote learning, or if there is resistance from this team.

How did you address them?

We were able to adapt our book study and make it happen virtually. (Which created unique challenges in trying to do "circle" work, but it was a great learning experience.)

I tried to listen carefully to my colleague. I need to hear her concerns because I know there are others that do or will feel similarly. I didn't try to talk her out of her concerns or out of dropping out, (which I might have done previously.) We talked about the fact that our work right now is about learning, and that we would have more time to discuss things we are already doing and how those things stay or evolve. She did not continue with the book study, but she said she felt better about where we were headed with restorative practices. It will be important to reach out and dialogue with her as we move forward.

I plan to reach out to this team early in the school year to see how I might support them, be it answering questions, or helping them talk through concerns.

Given the outcomes, describe any changes you might make to the Capstone project.

I am feeling confident about the work we've done so far, however the important work is not done. I am realizing that some of this work, though critical at my building level, will need to happen at our district level. During the 2019-2020 school year, my district created a community/district working group focused on anti-bias work. Part of the discussions were focused on our disciplinary policies at the board level. There was a variety of opinions about zero tolerance, suspensions and expulsions. (This group was paused until we can gather again.) I believe that this will be a space that I as I learn more about restorative practices, and more about the reasons behind the discipline ideas in the group, I can advocate for some changes at the district level.