Description and Project Summary (combined):
Our project explores the necessity of restorative practices and alternatives to traditional education within schools. Over the last four years, we have worked to establish a relationship between Bennington College and the Mount Anthony School system through the implementation of restorative justice and restorative practices.With the help of Alisa Del Tufo, we were able to receive restorative justice training through the Vermont Center of Restorative Justice (CRJ), which enabled us to begin working and running talking circles a group of girls identified by the dean of students as well as students in the V-19 classroom. Topics for these discussions ranged from “how was your spring break?” to “how do you control your anger?”. More recently, we have collaborated with a group of Mount Anthony High School teachers and faculty on the creation of a new alternative education program, the Frost House. The Frost House is meant to employ elements of restorative practices and therefore we will act as both restorative consultants and facilitators.
We have chosen to document our work in order to create sustainability and lay the foundation both for other students who may be interested in working with the community as well as for the college to establish a partnership with the local school system. Furthermore, we want to solidify restorative justice within the Public Action curriculum, creating additional opportunities for students on campus to engage in restorative practices.
Evidence suggests that restorative practices in schools reduce racial discipline gaps (Augustine et al., 2018), decrease chronic school absenteeism (Jain et al., 2014; Baker 2009), and reduce instances of physical aggression (Henson-Nash, 2015). Moreover, in an after-school restorative program, participants reported significant increases in variables related to empowerment, self-esteem, and ability to handle future challenges and problems (Harden et al., 2014). Restorative practices can therefore provide both quantifiable improvements for students’ educational success and more personal, social-emotional skills. However, restorative practices must be implemented in accordance with centuries-old indigenous principles, formally put into literature by Howard Zehr, for them to be truly effective and helpful in students’ lives.
Our project is a culmination of our work within the community over the last four years. We want to showcase our research, both collective and independent, as well as work to make our projects sustainable. This includes our work with the local Mount Anthony school systems, vulnerable and marginalized youth populations, and the child welfare system. Our most recent project addition includes a proposal for an education-based class at Bennington college which would allow Bennington students to work collaboratively with the new Frost House Program we helped create. Our project will be completed in the form of a webpage which will allow us to organize our work in a manner that allows us to concretely distill the steps we have taken to get to where we are now.
Mission Statement:
To provide support for vulnerable youth by introducing restorative practices to the community while also creating a sustainable partnership between the local schools and the college. We will treat the youth we work with with compassion, respect, dignity, and make them a partner in the implementation progress, giving them a voice and ensuring that they have control over their own education. We also plan to document our pathway, making it easier for other students to do the same work.
Reflection and Recommendations:
Our senior work in the community has been our purpose here at Bennington. We both fully believe that had we not been able to do this work with Alisa Del Tufo that we would not still be attending Bennington. The ability to connect with the community in such a meaningful way has been an invaluable experience and we are so grateful to Alisa for providing us with this opportunity. Furthermore, we are so appreciative of the broader Bennington community for trusting us to work with them and with their students. This would not have been possible had they not been so open and willing to help us and work with us. This collaboration between ourselves and the town is what we had always hoped our work in public action would be; not in the classroom, but in the community working to create tangible change. Our work has not always been easy and despite facing numerous administrative set backs, we are proud of our progress and of our final product. We had to fight to get credit for our work, but in doing so we had to truly think about why this work is so important, thereby further solidifying our purpose and were forced to think through every decision and how that would affect our future work. Our project incorporates recommendations for the future: we hope that restorative justice will be solidified as its own discipline within CAPA, allowing students to work more directly with the community through the Frost House Program we helped create. Our hope is that, by solidifying restorative justice as its own discipline, the campus can eventually come to adopt its own restorative culture and that subsequent work in restorative practices will be widely available and accessible. While our work is specifically in education, restorative justice can supplement a wide array of disciplines, and its potentials for application are infinite. Our biggest hope is that our work will make it easier for others who want to do work similar to ours, but this cannot be done without administrative support.
Our project explores the necessity of restorative practices and alternatives to traditional education within schools. Over the last four years, we have worked to establish a relationship between Bennington College and the Mount Anthony School system through the implementation of restorative justice and restorative practices.With the help of Alisa Del Tufo, we were able to receive restorative justice training through the Vermont Center of Restorative Justice (CRJ), which enabled us to begin working and running talking circles a group of girls identified by the dean of students as well as students in the V-19 classroom. Topics for these discussions ranged from “how was your spring break?” to “how do you control your anger?”. More recently, we have collaborated with a group of Mount Anthony High School teachers and faculty on the creation of a new alternative education program, the Frost House. The Frost House is meant to employ elements of restorative practices and therefore we will act as both restorative consultants and facilitators.
We have chosen to document our work in order to create sustainability and lay the foundation both for other students who may be interested in working with the community as well as for the college to establish a partnership with the local school system. Furthermore, we want to solidify restorative justice within the Public Action curriculum, creating additional opportunities for students on campus to engage in restorative practices.
Evidence suggests that restorative practices in schools reduce racial discipline gaps (Augustine et al., 2018), decrease chronic school absenteeism (Jain et al., 2014; Baker 2009), and reduce instances of physical aggression (Henson-Nash, 2015). Moreover, in an after-school restorative program, participants reported significant increases in variables related to empowerment, self-esteem, and ability to handle future challenges and problems (Harden et al., 2014). Restorative practices can therefore provide both quantifiable improvements for students’ educational success and more personal, social-emotional skills. However, restorative practices must be implemented in accordance with centuries-old indigenous principles, formally put into literature by Howard Zehr, for them to be truly effective and helpful in students’ lives.
Our project is a culmination of our work within the community over the last four years. We want to showcase our research, both collective and independent, as well as work to make our projects sustainable. This includes our work with the local Mount Anthony school systems, vulnerable and marginalized youth populations, and the child welfare system. Our most recent project addition includes a proposal for an education-based class at Bennington college which would allow Bennington students to work collaboratively with the new Frost House Program we helped create. Our project will be completed in the form of a webpage which will allow us to organize our work in a manner that allows us to concretely distill the steps we have taken to get to where we are now.
Mission Statement:
To provide support for vulnerable youth by introducing restorative practices to the community while also creating a sustainable partnership between the local schools and the college. We will treat the youth we work with with compassion, respect, dignity, and make them a partner in the implementation progress, giving them a voice and ensuring that they have control over their own education. We also plan to document our pathway, making it easier for other students to do the same work.
Reflection and Recommendations:
Our senior work in the community has been our purpose here at Bennington. We both fully believe that had we not been able to do this work with Alisa Del Tufo that we would not still be attending Bennington. The ability to connect with the community in such a meaningful way has been an invaluable experience and we are so grateful to Alisa for providing us with this opportunity. Furthermore, we are so appreciative of the broader Bennington community for trusting us to work with them and with their students. This would not have been possible had they not been so open and willing to help us and work with us. This collaboration between ourselves and the town is what we had always hoped our work in public action would be; not in the classroom, but in the community working to create tangible change. Our work has not always been easy and despite facing numerous administrative set backs, we are proud of our progress and of our final product. We had to fight to get credit for our work, but in doing so we had to truly think about why this work is so important, thereby further solidifying our purpose and were forced to think through every decision and how that would affect our future work. Our project incorporates recommendations for the future: we hope that restorative justice will be solidified as its own discipline within CAPA, allowing students to work more directly with the community through the Frost House Program we helped create. Our hope is that, by solidifying restorative justice as its own discipline, the campus can eventually come to adopt its own restorative culture and that subsequent work in restorative practices will be widely available and accessible. While our work is specifically in education, restorative justice can supplement a wide array of disciplines, and its potentials for application are infinite. Our biggest hope is that our work will make it easier for others who want to do work similar to ours, but this cannot be done without administrative support.