The Minnesota Department of Education School Safety Technical Assistance Center Restorative Practices in Schools Trainings, with help from The Legal Rights Center, is offering a week of training in Crystal, Minnesota. Restorative Practices is an approach schools can use to improve school climate and reduce discipline disparities. It focuses on building relationships and creating community in school to prevent harm, to repair harm and address the needs all people impacted by the harm.

A restorative school is centered on relationships, building community and repairing harm. Multiple practices provide multi-tiered levels of support for students, staff and family. These trainings include experiential instruction, training materials, and lunch and morning refreshments. Schools are encouraged to send a team to the training. Individuals are welcome. Lunch will be provided.

The trainings are open to anyone who works with youth, including school administrators, school board members, teachers, educational aides, school resource officers, school facilities staff members, student support staff members, out of school time staff, youth workers, school volunteers, family members and community partners. Sessions ranging from introductory level to advanced level will be offered. Schools are encouraged to send a team to the trainings. Individuals are welcome.

Dates and descriptions of the trainings follow. Please be mindful of the schedule and do not register the same person for conflicting trainings. Contact Garrett at gfitzgerald@legalrightscenter.org or 612-677-2140 with any questions regarding registration. You can also review our FAQ here.

Location

June 18-22, the Center is partnering with the Legal Rights Center and Robbinsdale Area Schools to offer twelve sessions at Forest Elementary School, Crystal. The Foundational Trainings are: Foundations, Circle Training, Restorative Language and Chats, Circle Equity Discussions, Administrators Circle; Ways of Exploring: Implementation. The Advanced Trainings include: Repairing Harm: Conferencing or Circle, Family Group Conferencing, Circle Keeper Training, Restorative Practices and Special Needs, Using Circle to Teach.

Trainings

Descriptions of the trainings follow. A training schedule with the names of the trainers and dates of the sessions can be found at each registration link.

Foundational Trainings

Restorative Practices Foundations, June 18

This one-day session will provide an overview of restorative justice principles and theory, restorative practices in
schools, implementation guidance and a review of resources. Participants of the trainings are encouraged to
attend, along with administrators, family members and school board representatives. Trainers: Nancy Riestenberg, Janet Christenson, Kurt Bloomberg, Terri Jackson. $60 + $5 book fee (The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education) + Eventbrite fee.

Circle Training, June 19-22

Circle is the basic communication process for a restorative school.it can be used to build community, problem-
solve, teach, plan, organize meetings and repair harm. The process looks simple, but applying the principles
requires practice. Participants will learn the elements, history and applications of circle, the consensus process
and underlying assumptions. Trainers: Crystal-Dominique Diaddigo-Cash and Jamie Williams; Stephanie Autumn and Talaya Tolefree; Hanaa Arafat and Shawn Davenport. $240 + $42 book fee (Circle Forward) + Eventbrite fee.

Restorative Language and Chats, June 21-22 (SOLD OUT: email gfitzgerald@legalrightscenter.org to be placed on the waitng list. Consider "Family Group Conferencing" or "Using Circle to Teach" as an alternative)

A restorative school teaches the language of empathy and supports problem-solving conversations. In thisintroductory training, participants will discuss and practice using affective statements and restorative chats,which are quick, in-the- moment guided conversations to help resolve problems early. Trainers: Alexis Goffe and Heather Hirsch. $120 + $14 materiel fee (RJ pocketbook and restorative question cards) + Eventbrite fee.

Administrators’ Circle, June 19-20 (SOLD OUT: email gfitzgerald@legalrightscenter.org to be placed on the waitng list. Consider "Ways of Exploring: Implementation" or "Circle Equity Discussions" as an alternative)

A key driver for implementation is leadership. This two day session provides administrators the opportunity to learn from their peers and to identify what they know and what they don't know about restorative practices. Teams from districts are strongly encouraged to attend: superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and deans, as well as anyone who frequently works on school discipline issues—lead teachers, school lawyers, parent leaders or community RP partner. Trainers: Alexis Goffe and Carol Markham-Cousins $120 + $20 book fee (Restorative Discipline Practices) + Eventbrite fee.

Ways of Exploring: Implementation, June 19-20 or June 21-22

The School Safety Technical Assistance Center at MDE has developed an outline for Restorative Practices implementation, along with tools and resources. This session is designed for school teams of 3-4 to review MDE's RP implementation tools and discuss the challenges and opportunities for school-wide restorative practices. Trainers: Nancy Riestenberg and Becky McCammon. $120 + $25 book fee (Creating Restorative Schools) + Eventbrite fee.

Advanced Trainings

Conferencing to Repair Harm, June 19-21

Conferencing is a script-directed repair of harm process to address a specific incident of harm. Participants will learn pre-meeting, the face-to- face process and agreement completion practices. Trainers: Maureen Farrell and Brent Lehman. $180 + $16 book fee (Rethinking Behavior Management) + Eventbrite fee.

Circle to Repair Harm, June 19-21

The circle process can be used to repair harm, especially when the harm may require several sessions or on-
going support. Participants will learn pre-meeting, the circle to repair harm outline and the celebration/follow-
up circle processes. Basic circle training is helpful. Trainers: Ann Hite and Taylor Saver. $180 + $42 book fee (Circle Forward) + Eventbrite fee.

Circle Equity Discussions, June 18-19

Explore the intersectionality of equity and restorative practices in schools. Deepen your discussions of race,
power and privilege. Using the circle process, this session will provide space for exploration as well as planning
to continue the dialogue at your school or program. Circle knowledge and experience helpful. Trainers: Alecia Mobley and Raj Sethuraju. $120 + Eventbrite fee.

Restorative Practices and Special Education, June 19-20 (SOLD OUT: email gfitzgerald@legalrightscenter.org to be placed on the waitng list. Consider "Circle Keeper's Training (Advanced)" as an alternative)

This session will explore accommodations that can be used in the repair of harm process for students with disabilities. Visual aids and language adaptions, along with guidance for specific disabilities will be offered. Circle or conferencing to repair harm knowledge is helpful. Trainers: Jimmie Heags and Doris Moylan. $120 + $30 book fee (Restorative Practices and Special Needs) + Eventbrite fee.

Using Circle to Teach, June 21-22

This circle training will focus on teaching the circle process to students and on using the process to teach
academic subjects, such as world languages, mathematics, writing and preparing for tests. Basic experience with
circle helpful. Trainers: Jessica Stewart and Angela Wilcox. $120 + $16 book fee (Circle in the Square) + Eventbrite fee.

Circle Keepers’ Training (Advanced), June 21-22

Experienced circle keepers are invited to meet, learn and explore the finer details of circle keeping. In a collaborative circle share your successes and challenges, while deepening your own practice. Trainers: Michael Stanefski and Cynthia Zwicky; $120 + $28 book fee (Heart of Hope) + Eventbrite fee.

Restorative Family Group Conferencing in Schools, June 19-20

The Legal Rights Center has adapted restorative Family Group Conferencing for use in schools in response to
significant behavioral concerns, as an alternative to expulsion, to support school re-entry following suspension,
to address truancy and/or to support family engagement. Through engagement of the student, family, school
and community resources, a strengths-based accountability plan is developed to ensure that students are able
to repair harm, restore the learning relationships between students and school, family and school, and student
and family. This training is for restorative community organizations and their local school administrators.
Community restorative practitioners are encouraged to invite a principal from a high school and/or an
alternative learning center to the training. School administrators are also welcome to attend without a
community partner if no current relationship exists. Trainers: Sarah Davis and Chelsea Schmitz. $120 + Eventbrite fee.

Registration and Reasonable Accommodations

If you have questions about which training is right for you, please contact Nancy Riestenberg. If you have questions about the registration, please contact Garrett, 612-677-2140.

Contact Nancy Riestenberg, 651-582-8433, to request a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event. Note: We require a two-week advance notice in order to provide the requested accommodation and ask for a 48-hour notice to cancel the request.

Restorative Practices in Schools Trainings 2018 - Sponsored by MDE & LRC