How APS implements restorative practices in classrooms

Aug. 13—Albuquerque Public Schools has been working toward baking in restorative practices in schools for years now.

Sometimes, that term just conjures images of talking circles and daily check-ins with students. But in fact, Restorative Practices Manager Linda Kane says, the district, school leaders and educators are working the practices into how they deal with all types of issues facing their students.

And because the goal of restorative practices is to "find the underlying issues that a student may be having," Kane, who says she's been bringing the practices to schools for over a decade, says she often finds that teachers are already doing them.

"Restorative is looking at the whole person. It's understanding the student's family life and other issues that may be going on, and to get them the services and the help they need," she said.

So when a school has a talk with a student bullying one of their peers to figure out why he or she is doing it, or pushes the student to reflect on the harm done — that's a way of being restorative, she said.

Same goes for when schools assign students who have heated arguments with others, or damage school property, time in "student success centers," where they can spend half of the time they would have just been out of schools working on projects or repairing relationships with people they have issues with.

Even when a student is chronically absent from school, Kane said she'll use restorative practices — calling parents, figuring out what's going on behind the scenes that may be leading to their child missing classes, and helping them with what they can.

Of course, Kane said certain behaviors require out-of-school suspensions. When a student brings a gun on campus, for example, state statute calls for districts to expel students for at least a year.

Not all schools are completely up with restorative practices, she said, like implementing the talking circles, although she wasn't aware of any set deadline for 100% uptake among all schools.

"I know that all schools are working towards doing everything restorative," Kane said. "Every school is at a different progression rate with it."