Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) Conference

In this talk, Wadhwa discusses the youth led model of apprenticing others in schools in restorative justice. She discusses the many stakeholders who need apprenticing, including families and teachers, and the evolution of a leadership class which acts as a training ground for youth leaders in the movement.

A native Houstonian, Dr. Anita Wadhwa is a classroom teacher and restorative justice coordinator at YES Prep Northbrook High School, and author of Restorative Justice in Urban Schools: Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline. She is Co-Founder of Restorative Empowerment (or REY) and hires former students to train organizations in Houston in restorative practices. She owes everything to her parents, husband, and two lovely girls.

Leslie Lux is a Head Teaching Assistant at the Restorative Justice Leadership Class, a self taught class for 10th-12th graders. She facilitated a training on implicit bias and RJ at the University of Texas. She is going to the University of Houston in the fall to study education. She loves crafting and the phrase "cool beans."

Restorative Justice in Education promotes values and principles that use inclusive, collaborative approaches for supporting students and educators in the community called “School.” This session will examine the ways in which RJE supports the experiences and needs of everyone within the community, particularly those who are disenfranchised, those who experience oppression, and those who struggle to thrive in educational contexts.

Kathy Evans, PhD is an Associate Professor of Education at EMU who has led EMU to develop the nation's first graduate program in Restorative Justice in Education. Her research, teaching, and scholarship focus on working with teachers to create just and equitable educational opportunities for all students marginalized for any reason. Kathy co-authored The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education.

Deb Lokrantz, MA, is the Regional Program Director at Office on Youth in Fredericksburg, VA. She was trained in Restorative Justice in Education at Eastern Mennonite University. For the past three school years, she, along with an amazing team, has helped with the implementation of Restorative Justice by training/consulting in three local school districts - Stafford, Spotsylvania, and King George. Before working at Office on Youth, she spent 15 years helping families at a local Department of Social Services with the Family Educator Program. She also facilitates groups with the local domestic violence agency, Empowerhouse. She believes that relationships and love are the answers to most problems.

When implemented with fidelity, restorative justice has proven to be a viable solution for school districts as a way to ensure equity and create environments that foster belonging and narrow opportunity gaps. Fidelity begins with committed leadership that understands the sanctity, value, and will necessary to implement restorative justice as a culture shift and not as an alternative to something else. This session will offer participants an opportunity to learn about tools and resources that can aid leaders in building foundations that can lead to restorative justice cultures.

Dr. Kevin Gilbert currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) in Ellicott City, MD. HCPSS serves over 59,000 students and over 8,000 staff members. His responsibilities consists of coordinating HCPSS’s efforts to be more diverse, promote equity, and ensure inclusion throughout the district. He oversees the operation of the newly created Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI). After three years, this office is one of the bedrocks of the district’s equity agenda. The purpose of ODEI is to build a climate of belonging and culture of dignity throughout HCPSS in alignment with the districts strategic call to action, Learning and Leading with Equity. The foundation of this framework centers on establishing a restorative justice culture that believes not only that people are relational and worthy, but also that we must respect one another, have mutual concern for one another, and value the dignity we all deserve.

Dr. Gilbert has 23 years of education experience, including serving as a classroom teacher for eight years, assistant principal for three years, and a district administrator for seven years. Additional professional experience includes serving as president of the Mississippi Association of Educators and on the executive committee for the National Education Association.

Dwanna Nicole is a restorative justice practitioner and trainer with the Restorative Justice Partnership, where she works within school communities throughout the country to assist them with developing strategies to create more positive school climates for students, educators, and families. She provides training and implementation support in restorative justice to all stakeholders within school communities. In addition to training, she works alongside schools and school districts in the creation of individualized short- and long-term plans for restorative justice implementation and provides ongoing support in the form of resources, complimentary professional development, and onsite assistance. 

Prior to her work with the Restorative Justice Partnership, Dwanna served as Advancement Project’s Director of Policy and Stakeholder Outreach. In that role, she developed strategies to implement the policy agenda of Advancement Project and its partner organizations by supporting local, state, and national campaigns. She built and maintained relationships with external stakeholders, including teachers’ unions, school officials, law enforcement, judges, and policymakers to create a diverse constituency of support for Advancement Project’s initiatives. 

Dwanna has held positions at nonprofits, within school systems, and within local governments. She has coordinated legislative activities for various organizations and coalitions, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Let Haiti Live Coalition, and has developed legislation for the Maryland General Assembly, Council of the District of Columbia, City of Richmond, Virginia, and the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County Public Schools Boards of Education.

Creating a culture of peace goes beyond solving or even preventing problems. The goal is to nurture peaceful, just, and caring relationships for well-being within communities.  As such, session participants will explore three pillars of peacebuilding within a relational literacy framework that engages personal beliefs and human connectivity, and how this transfers to the classroom.

Judy H. Mullet, PhD, Professor Emerita of Psychology at Eastern Mennonite University, is a consultant and presenter on restorative pedagogy and relational literacy in schools. Within graduate teacher education, Judy designed and teaches “Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation.” Her publications include “Restorative discipline: From getting even to getting well” in Children & Schools (2014) and “Healing the past through story” in Adult Learning (2014); Judy is also the co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools (2005, 2015).

This session introduces participants to the R=MC2 Readiness Assessment for schools implementing RJE. Participants will learn about how capacity and motivation affect readiness; the right time to assess readiness; and how to benefit from and utilize the results. Readiness assessments are situated within the implementation science framework, which includes, among other things, plans to monitor and evaluate both implementation integrity progress toward goals and outcomes.

Dr. Martha A. Brown,  president of RJAE Consulting, is author of Creating Restorative Schools: Setting Schools Up to Succeed available at Living Justice Press. Dr. Brown received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida Atlantic University and was Lead Instructor for Simon Fraser University's Continuing Studies online Restorative Justice Certificate Program for four years. She was also an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University where she taught a course in Educational Assessment. She has published several peer-reviewed book chapters and articles on restorative justice and has presented internationally at conferences sponsored by the National Association for Community & Restorative Justice (NACRJ), Restorative Practices International (RPI), American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), Visitor Studies Association (VSA), and the International Conference on Conflict Resolution in Education (CRE). As a consultant, Martha assists non-profit, cultural, community-based, educational, and correctional organizations with program design, readiness assessments, strategic planning, student assessments, monitoring implementation, and defining and measuring program outcomes.

While schools struggle with initiative burnout from the silos we use to implement various programs, this inter-active presentation will introduce a unique approach to implementing restorative practices, Nonviolent Communication, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, and Mindfulness as a holistic and trauma-informed culture change. This method of implementation identifies the five skills needed to implement each of these models and approaches and combines their implementation. This approach is currently being implemented in 21 Connecticut schools. Participants will leave this presentation with an understanding of how to navigate change management and move beyond the train and pray model of implementing school-wide change.

Joe Brummer has been the victim of two separate violent anti-gay hate crimes and what began as a personal healing response to the trauma, he has transformed into professional involvement in the field of community and restorative justice. In 2006, he began his work with the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence during a training of trainers in Kingian Nonviolence. Then in 2007, he served as a victim advocate on the Juvenile Restorative Justice Advisory Board for the Community Mediation Center of Rhode Island. In 2008, he attended the International Intensive Training on Nonviolent Communication with Marshall Rosenberg in Albuquerque, NM.  From 2010 until 2014, Joe was the associate director of a community mediation center in Connecticut where he oversaw juvenile and adult criminal mediation/dialogue programs that involved victim/offender and offender/offender dialogues.  Also, in this role, he supported school-based mediation programs, mediation for the Juvenile Review Boards in Hamden and New Haven, Connecticut, and provided hundreds of trainings in Nonviolent Communication. In 2014, Joe participated in a 3-week program in India called Teaching for Peace: An Indian Immersion Program in Practical Nonviolence. He has attended restorative justice training with Dominic Barter, the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) and the Victim Offender Mediation Association (VOMA).

Overall, since 2010, Joe has actively helped schools implement peer mediation programs and school-wide restorative practices.  As a private consultant beginning in 2015, Joe has designed a trauma-informed approach of restorative practices and infused this model in Connecticut schools. In 2017, he completed a six-year term on the board of directors for the National Association for Community Mediation. He has presented on restorative justice nationally, including Washington State, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.  He is the author of the upcoming book, Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: Tools and Approaches to Improve Culture and Behavior.

This interactive session will examine the root causes of racism, explore the benefits of restorative practices in healing racial trauma, and extrapolate the impact of COVID-19 on youth in racially and economically segregated public schools.

Dr. Ram Bhagat is a longtime educator, arts innovator, and peace builder. Ram specializes in conflict resolution, arts integration, restorative justice in education, and trauma sensitive schools. He utilizes drumming, dance, drama, yoga, trauma healing, mindfulness, and restorative practices in school, community, and organizational settings. Currently, Dr. Bhagat is the manager for school culture and climate for Richmond Public Schools.

A growing and compelling body of research tells us that building community and nurturing relationships in schools positively influence student achievement, behavior, safety, and attendance. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to knowledge, skills, and methods of restorative discipline as effective ways to build, maintain, and restore, essential positive relationships between and among students, teachers, and administrators in schools.

Bob Garrity, M.Ed., M.A., is an adjunct faculty member in Eastern Mennonite University’s Restorative Justice in Education program. He is a practitioner, teacher, and trainer in restorative practices. As a practitioner, he works with school divisions, individual schools, and educators as a facilitator, mediator, trainer, and consultant. In schools he facilitates restorative processes for student-student, student-teacher, parent-teacher, parent-parent, family-family, and group-group situations involving conflict or harm.  

As an educator and trainer, he teaches at EMU and trains educators in their school divisions across Virginia in restorative practices, mediation, facilitation, group process, culturally responsive teaching, de-escalation skills, and bullying prevention. He provides direct services and training for schools, universities, agencies, businesses, families, and communities. Bob's publications and presentations include mediation training manuals, customized training materials, articles, and topics related to restorative practices.

English Language Learners have unique needs and strengths, and are important and integral members of the school community. With its focus on dignity and worth, Restorative Justice in Education provides a safe learning environment where they can both learn English and thrive. This session shares the HCPS journey with a focus on English Learners.

Emily Imgram has been working with English Learners with Harrisonburg City Public Schools for 8 years. The past 5 years she has been teaching in the Newcomer Program, both at the middle school and elementary level.  She completed the EMU graduate certificate in the RJE program in June, 2019. 

Laura Feichtinger McGrath is the Director of EL Support and Title III for Harrisonburg City Public Schools. Laura has been with HCPS for the past 21 years working with English language learners at all levels. She completed the EMU graduate certificate in RJE program in June 2018.

David Shenk is in his fourth year as Home-School Liaison at Harrisonburg High School, supporting Spanish-speaking families and newcomer/EL students.  Prior to working with Harrisonburg City Public Schools, David lived in Quito, Ecuador where he coordinated a faith-based non-profit project for Colombian refugees.  David is a certified interpreter and mediator.  He completed his RJE graduate certificate in May 2019 and continues to work towards his masters degree at Eastern Mennonite University. 

 As part of an RJE framework, Circle processes help to foster, restore, and sustain healthy learning environments in educational settings. The session will explore the inclusion of Circle processes as a means to strengthen relationships by transforming conflict, co-creating safe learning spaces, and promoting social and emotional health and well-being. Participants will explore the fundamental elements of Circle Processes, including guiding principles, design, and facilitation. In response to the current context, special attention will be given to the facilitation of online Circle processes and elements that need to be considered for virtual Circles to be effective.

Kathy Evans, PhD is an Associate Professor of Education at EMU who has led EMU to develop the nation's first graduate program in Restorative Justice in Education. Her research, teaching, and scholarship focus on working with teachers to create just and equitable educational opportunities for all students marginalized for any reason. Kathy co-authored The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education. 

Each year, close to three million students are funneled into what is now commonly referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline, the policies and practices that push students, particularly black and special needs, and LGBTQ students, out of school and on a pathway to prison. Restorative justice has been touted as an answer to this dilemma by being framed as an “alternative to suspension.” But we know restorative justice is so much more.  

By creating a strong foundation that prioritizes relationships over academics and respects and values all members of the school community, schools that embrace restorative justice are seeing a reduction in suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests. During this session you will learn about the harms of exclusionary discipline, the danger in relegating restorative justice to a practice that is only done after harm has occurred, and how to embrace the fullness of adopting and implementing a restorative justice philosophy in school communities. 

Dr. Kevin Gilbert currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) in Ellicott City, MD. HCPSS serves over 59,000 students and over 8,000 staff members. His responsibilities consists of coordinating HCPSS’s efforts to be more diverse, promote equity, and ensure inclusion throughout the district. He oversees the operation of the newly created Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI). After three years, this office is one of the bedrocks of the district’s equity agenda. The purpose of ODEI is to build a climate of belonging and culture of dignity throughout HCPSS in alignment with the districts strategic call to action, Learning and Leading with Equity. The foundation of this framework centers on establishing a restorative justice culture that believes not only that people are relational and worthy, but also that we must respect one a

Dwanna Nicole is a restorative justice practitioner and trainer with the Restorative Justice Partnership, where she works within school communities throughout the country to assist them with developing strategies to create more positive school climates for students, educators, and families. She provides training and implementation support in restorative justice to all stakeholders within school communities. In addition to training, she works alongside schools and school districts in the creation of individualized short- and long-term plans for restorative justice implementation and provides ongoing support in the form of resources, complimentary professional development, and onsite assistance. 

Prior to her work with the Restorative Justice Partnership, Dwanna served as Advancement Project’s Director of Policy and Stakeholder Outreach. In that role, she developed strategies to implement the policy agenda of Advancement Project and its partner organizations by supporting local, state, and national campaigns. She built and maintained relationships with external stakeholders, including teachers’ unions, school officials, law enforcement, judges, and policymakers to create a diverse constituency of support for Advancement Project’s initiatives. 

Dwanna has held positions at nonprofits, within school systems, and within local governments. She has coordinated legislative activities for various organizations and coalitions, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Let Haiti Live Coalition, and has developed legislation for the Maryland General Assembly, Council of the District of Columbia, City of Richmond, Virginia, and the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County Public Schools Boards of Education.

This session will provide an overview of one district's best practices in restorative justice and family community engagement to include the culture and mindset changes and high impact strategies.  The presenters will share how to create authentic and positive working relationships between schools, families and community partners.  This session will be interactive and provide a deeper understanding of the importance and many examples of meaningful family engagement practices. 

April Howard is Executive Director of Psychological and Student Services for Harrisonburg City Public Schools where she leads the collaborative work under social and emotional learning for all students. April earned a MA and Ed.S in School Psychology as well as Educational Leadership licensure from James Madison University. She has served as a School Psychologist in both Harrisonburg and in Warren County and maintains her Nationally Certified School Psychologist licensure. April most recently completed Eastern Mennonite University’s Restorative Justice in Education Certificate Program and is an active member of the leadership team for Harrisonburg RJ Coalition. Additionally, April has training and expertise in trauma-informed care and bullying prevention.

Sal Romero moved with his family to the United States from Mexico at the age of 13 years old as a non-english speaker. He is starting his third year as the Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement for the Harrisonburg City Public Schools system.  He joined Harrisonburg City Publics Schools in 2006 and since has served as Home School Liaison, ESL teacher, and vice principal.  Prior to coming to HCPS, Sal was an athletic trainer at Buffalo Gap High School and served as director of Second Home, a before and after school program.  Mr. Romero is very active in the community as a member of the Welcoming Harrisonburg Council, Shenandoah Valley Premier Soccer League Board, and Latinos del Valle. He is a graduate of Blue Ridge Community College, James Madison University and Shenandoah University. Sal was appointed to the Virginia State Board of Education in 2014 by Governor Terry McAuliffe.  In 2018, Sal was elected as the first Latino to Harrisonburg City Council and is currently serving as Vice Mayor.

In this talk, Wadhwa discusses the myriad challenges to trying to transform a broken education system from the inside. She explores the observed limitations of the program she has developed, but offers some glimmers of hope as youth begin taking on more responsibility in pushing the program to become more focused on creating agents who will transform the system once they leave the walls of the school.

A native Houstonian,  Dr. Anita Wadhwa is a classroom teacher and restorative justice coordinator at YES Prep Northbrook High School, and author of Restorative Justice in Urban Schools: Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline. She is Co-Founder of Restorative Empowerment (or REY) and hires former students to train organizations in Houston in restorative practices. She owes everything to her parents, husband, and two lovely girls.

Jose Lagunas is pursuing a B.A in Political Science at Washington and Jefferson College.  He was the original Head TA of the Leadership class, and received an ACLU fellowship and studied abroad in Morocco during his time in high school. He has consulted with REY to train educators in Houston.