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Implementing Restorative Practices in Fraser Public Schools:

A New Alternative to Traditional Discipline

Kristina Wiegand

Oakland University

EA 7720

October 20, 2018

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Abstract

In Fraser Public Schools, a decision was made to implement Restorative

Practices district-wide. The intention of this decision was to resolve conflict more

effectively and to reduce the amount of student suspension days throughout the

district. This initiative was examined through the lenses of the Four Frames of an

Organization, depicted by Bolman and Deal (2013) in the book, Reframing

Organizations. These frames consist of: Structural, Human Resource, Political, and

Symbolic.

Each of the above mentioned frames played a significant role in the

implementation of Restorative Practices within our district. Although this initiative

is still in its early stages, we are hopeful that the effects of this initiative will prove

that a focus and an investment on the mental health of our students is warranted.
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Introduction

Fraser Public Schools is a small district in Macomb County, Michigan that

consists of an early childhood center, six elementary schools, one middle school, and

one high school. Students at the elementary level attend through sixth grade, while

our middle school is comprised of only seventh and eighth graders. Our high school

is the traditional ninth-twelfth grade format. More than 5,200 students attend

Fraser Public Schools. Our district is situated in a blue-collared area and is

primarily comprised of middle to lower-classed residents. Approximately 41% of

our students receive free and reduced lunch. Our student diversity is as follows:

approximately 77% Caucasian, 13% African American, and 10% Multiracial,

Spanish, or Asian. Our average student-teacher ratio is 19:1 throughout the district.

Fraser provides K-12 students with their own Apple iPad or MacAir, making us a 1:1

district.

With regards to our academics in Fraser Public Schools, approximately 55%

and 40% of students demonstrate proficiency on statewide assessments in reading

and math, respectively. In addition, high school students average a score of 1120

and 25 on their SAT and ACT, respectively. We have a 97% high school graduation

rate.

Although we make continual strides with our academics and instructional

programs, the purpose of this analysis is to reflect on a new initiative in our district-

one that holds insurmountable value. This initiative is the implementation of

Restorative Practices and the hope is that it will mitigate conflict amongst our

students and staff, therefore shifting our disciplinary practices. As with many
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districts, in Fraser, students with problem behavior are often suspended repeatedly.

The Restorative Practices Training Manual states that “Rather than addressing the

relational dimension, punishment systems often focus on isolating the offender in

order to punish offending behavior. Suspension and expulsion from the school

separate the offender from community participation. A student who does something

wrong is removed from relationships with others and placed in a room alone”

(Winslade, Espinoza, Myers, & Yzaguirre, 2014). In implementing Restorative

Practices district-wide beginning this school year, our goal is that we can address

problems between students more holistically, thus addressing mental health,

fostering a greater sense of empathy, and reducing the number of suspension days

issued.

What Are Restorative Practices?

According to Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships and

Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools, Restorative Practices build healthy

relationships by allowing individuals who committed harm to sit down with the

other person(s) and discuss the wrongdoing, gain an understanding of how that

wrongdoing affected others, and reflect on ways to make it right (2014). The article

goes on to state that such meetings are effective in repairing relationships and

preventing problems from escalating further (2014). This school year alone, our

school has conducted several Restorative Justice meetings and all of them have been

successful in restoring peace in a potentially volatile situation. These meetings

typically take place between students, but they can also take place between an

educator and a student, or even two educators.

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The Structural Frame

According to Bolman and Deal (2013), looking at an organization through a

structural lens is one of the most traditional ways of thinking about an organization

(p. 41). The structural perspective is centered on putting people in the right roles

and allocating responsibilities effectively across the different units in an

organization (Bolman & Deal, 2013; p. 44-45). With regards to our implementation

of Restorative Practices in our school system, I believe we are doing just that!

Although our new superintendent established this initiative in Fraser through

vertical coordination, the implementation of it seems to be taking a more lateral

direction (Bolman & Deal, 2013; p. 51-54). We have a task force that is designed to

make sure the implementation is consistent across all school levels. A Restorative

Practices Trainer that is employed by our district will head that task force. She will

be responsible for coordinating all administrators and support staff members who

will play a role in the restorative justice meetings in all buildings. All of these people

will be provided with extensive training in restorative practice and will be meeting

regularly throughout the coming years. In addition to that, all teachers in our

district are expected to receive training in it to various degrees. The trainer who

works within our district will also conduct this training.

Bolman and Deal (2013) refer to Mintzberg’s models of organizational

structure and I believe that our school system runs primarily by the Professional

Bureaucracy design (p 79-80). However, with regards to this initiative of

implementing Restorative Practices in our schools, many of the components of

Divisionalized Form are relevant too (Bolman & Deal, 2013 p. 80-81). Each separate
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school has it’s own group of people responsible for offering Restorative Justice to

our students and staff. These people are all working within the main task force,

which is run by our trainer and overseen by central administration. I expect that we

will see some of the challenges commonly associated with this organizational

structure, which would be to keep all units on the same page and administer

Restorative Practices in a consistent manner district-wide.

Bolman and Deal (2013) state that it is important to think carefully about

some important variables, when determining a structure in an organization (p.99).

With regards to the structure involved in implementing Restorative Practices in our

district, one variable that was carefully considered was the goal of this initiative

(Bolman & Deal, 2013, p.99). The overarching goal for Fraser was to reduce the

number of suspension days that were issued to students, district-wide. This would

then allow students to be in class more often, thus hopefully improving overall

student achievement and establishing a more positive school culture. In terms of

another important variable that Bolman and Deal (2013) mention: Determining

Success, our district plans to compile SWIS data at the end of this year and compare

it to prior years, to see if severe behaviors were reduced (p.99). We also plan to

look at individual students who have long “track records” of severely problematic

behavior, and see if the behavior improved for those students after they’ve

participated in Restorative Meetings. In addition, we will compare our number of

suspension days this year to years past, with the hopes that the number has been

reduced.
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The Human Resource Frame

“Our most important asset is our people” (Bolman and Deal, 2013, p.113).

Despite having the right structure in place and carefully thinking through some of the

most important variables involved in implementing this district-wide initiative, it’s so

important that Fraser has the right people in place to carry it out effectively. Bolman and

Deal (2013) suggest that organizations exist to serve human needs (p. 117). I cannot

think of many organizations whose purposes are more centered on serving human needs

more than our school systems. Restorative Practices are a fundamental way that

educators can serve the needs of their students, but the right people do need to be in

place. As mentioned previously, the goal of this initiative is to reduce the number of

suspension days. However, administrators face an unfair amount of pressure by both

teachers and parents to come down hard on students with problematic behavior. Usually,

this involves student suspension. Without having the right people in place, who are truly

invested in the idea of using Restorative Justice in lieu of traditional discipline, those

people will likely succumb to the same old, same old way of handling problematic

behavior.

In addition to having to fully buy into the use of Restorative Practices,

administrators need to be properly trained on how to implement it correctly. Bolman and

Deal (2013) remind us that Performance = Ability x Motivation (p. 119). This formula

tells us that even if administrators are motivated to use Restorative Practices in an effort

to reduce problematic behavior, they still need to have the ability to do it! Although all

administrators and support staff are going to receive intensive training on how to

implement it, I believe our district trainer needs to be present in as many of the district-
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wide Restorative Justice meetings as possible over the first several months. This will

ensure that our staff members are running these meetings correctly.

Bolman and Deal (2013) also note the importance in organizations that invest in

their people (p. 133). Fraser Public Schools is doing just that! The district’s Restorative

Practices trainer received funding from Fraser to become a trainer. She recognized the

need for the adoption of a Restorative Justice within Fraser Public Schools and submitted

a proposal to attend the training, similar to what the article Restorative Practices:

Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools

recommends doing to get the process started at a district level (2014). This training

cost more than $2,000 for her to attend, including travel expenses, but our district

understood the importance of investing in our own people. In return for providing the

training, our district is hoping to invite neighboring schools in when our newly-trained

trainer conducts the trainings for the district staff members- at all small fee, which will

recoup some of the funds used to send her to her training in the first place. This concept

of investing in our own and then using our own for outside training would likely qualify

as a development opportunity, noted by Bolman and Deal (2013) as a Basic Human

Resource Strategy (p. 140). In addition, it correlates perfectly to Bolman and Deal’s

(2013) notion of Theory Y- allowing employees to advance their own self-interests and

achieve their own goals, while providing simultaneous rewards to the organization (p.

123-124). This is a win-win situation!

The Political Frame

This win-win situation was recently driven, to some extent, by politics.

According to Bolman and Deal (2013), “Organizations are coalitions of different

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individuals and interest groups. Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining and

negotiation among competing stakeholders jockeying for their own interests” (Bolman &

Deal, p. 188-189) Recently, when our new superintendent, who was previously our

assistant superintendent, was going through the grueling process of being appointed for

this new role, there was increasing pressure placed upon her by the district stakeholders

to make strides in school safety and conflict resolution. Part of her plan, in which she

very clearly articulated to the Board of Education, was to implement Restorative

Practices in our schools in an effort to promote conflict resolution amongst students, as

according to Wachtel, OConnell, and Wachtel (2010) Restorative Justice can change the

way that society responds to wrongdoing in schools by benefiting the victim(s),

offender(s) and community (p. 163-164).

Bolman and Deal (2013) noted that “political activity is more visible and

dominant under the conditions of diversity than of homogeneity” (Bolman & Deal, p.

190). The quest to become the new superintendent involved much diversity and

division amongst school stakeholders, as both candidates had many who both

supported and opposed their prospective appointment as our new superintendent.

Similar to what Bolman and Deal (2013) noted about power and decision-making,

alliances began to form in all levels of the organization, all with their own common

interests at the forefront (Bolman & Deal, p. 195). Among many ideas that our

successful candidate had strong supporters for, was her idea to implement

Restorative Practices in our schools. Once she was appointed as the new

superintendent, she moved forward with her plans to implement Restorative

Practices district-wide.
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On a different political note, heavily involved in our implementation of

Restorative Practices is our district trainer, noted above, who submitted a proposal

to seek out training in Restorative Practices. This individual is highly motivated and

talented at resolving conflicts between students, as well as promoting Growth

Mindset district-wide. Her degree in psychology would enable her to seek

employment in many different facets of society, but she chooses to stay in Fraser-

which is a huge benefit to our district.

In her proposal, she subtly acknowledged the scarcity of people in the district

that have her skill-set. Scarcity is one of the techniques noted by Bolman and Deal

(2013) as how to successfully influence others (p. 198). This individual, rightfully,

made a case for herself and was successful in persuading district administrators to

move forward in the plan for district-wide implementation of Restorative Practices

with her at the forefront.

The Symbolic Frame

“What is most important is not what happens but what it means” (Bolman & Deal,

2013, p. 248). Restorative Practices becoming a huge initiative in our district this

year offers a lot of symbolic meaning. What this means is that Fraser understands

the significance of improving the overall quality of our students’ experiences in our

district, both academically and socially. It tells our stakeholders that we are

allocating resources meant to holistically reach every student- every victim, every

offender, and the community as a whole. It is a symbol of mental health finally

taking a precedence in our society, in our neighborhood schools.

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Bolman and Deal (2013) refer to culture “as a product, embodying wisdom

accumulated from experience (p. 263). Much of our experiences, as school

stakeholders, have involved putting “Band Aids” on an overabundance of problems

relating to student discipline, while allotting very few resources to actually get to

the root of some of our problems. Many such problems, across the country, have led

to grave situations- which could be portrayed as wisdom accumulated from

experience. Our culture, or “the way we do things around here” will likely be altered

as more and more of our colleagues witness and participate in Restorative Justice

meetings throughout the district (Bolman & Deal, 2013, p. 263). Hopefully,

everyone will experience positive effects from the initiative, in some capacity, which

will improve the overall morale in our school system.

Lastly, with regards to the symbolic perspective, organizations are judged as

much on appearance as they are on outcomes (Bolman & Deal, 2013, p. 300). Will

the implementation of Restorative Practices successfully resolve all conflict within

our district? Absolutely not. But will it portray a valiant effort on our part to make

big strides in better servicing our students on a social-emotional level? You bet. In

the theater that is organizational process, not all efforts produce the intended

outcomes (Bolman & Deal, 2013, p. 293). As far as the implementation of

Restorative Practices in our district goes, at least all of our efforts will be a step in

the right direction and will allow for new understandings, although we’re all hopeful

for significant outcomes.

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Conclusion

Fraser Public Schools’ implementation of Restorative Practices has the

intended outcome of minimizing conflict in our district, thus reducing the number of

total student suspension days. This implementation was comprised of components

from the four frames of organizations noted by Bolman and Deal (2013): Structural,

Human Resource, Political and Symbolic. Although the implementation is still in it’s

beginning phases, it holds the promise of a commitment to servicing our students

more holistically by reaching their social-emotional needs. It puts mental health as

a top priority in our district- which has potential for insurmountable, yet

immeasurable value. By being proactive and addressing conflict as it comes, we

could potentially be preventing the next school tragedy from occurring. If all goes

well, that is something that we will never be able to credit ourselves for. Luckily,

there are many other measures that can be used to evaluate the success of this

important district-wide initiative.

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References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships & Promoting Positive Discipline

in Schools A Guide for Educators. (2014, March). Retrieved from
http://schottfoundation.org/sites/default/files/restorative-practices-guide.pdf

Wachtel, T., OConnell, T., & Wachtel, B. (2010). Restorative justice conferencing: Real
justice & the Conferencing handbook. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for
Restorative Practices.

Winslade, J. M., Espinoza, E., Myers, M., & Yzaguirre, H.

(2014). Https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu. Retrieved October 20, 2018, from
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.googl
e.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1002&context=books