Have You Ever Wondered?

 

Have you heard people talking about Restorative Justice and wondered what that meant? Or have you done some reading on the subject but still wondered how it would work in real-life situations?

This weekend you have an opportunity to gain some first hand knowledge and broaden your perspective on Restorative Justice at The People’s Conference: a Relational Approach to Community. It’s a two-day mini-conference presented by the Restorative Justice Partnership, taking place at the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center.

Here’s the agenda:

The Invitation: Friday, February 2, 2024

5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Please join us for a cocktail hour from 5-6pm, followed by a panel of local educators, families, students, and community members sharing their personal insights, stories, and paths of implementing restorative justice. Panelists include Julia Tarawali, Student (Wilde Lake High School); Kori Jones, Director (Harriet Tubman Cultural Center); Lizz Hammon, Parent (Swansfield Elementary School); Monica Stevens, College and Career Readiness Advisor (Hammond High School and Patuxent Valley Middle School); Nikia Darden, Reading Specialist (Guilford Elementary School); and Richard Smart, Principal (Patuxent Valley Middle School)

The Occasion: Saturday, February 3, 2024

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Join us for a full day of communal learning with keynote addresses from Dr. Kathy Evans, author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education; and Dr. Cierra Kaler-Jones, Executive Director of Rethinking Schools. Morning and afternoon session topics include Balancing Learning Objectives and Student Needs, Building Relationships with Young People, Engaging Families in Healthy School-Based Interactions, Evaluating Power Dynamics In Relationships, Mutual Aid as a Foundational to Addressing Inequity, the Power of Community, the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and an opportunity to participate in a peace circle. Breakfast and lunch are provided. 

The admission fee for all of this to participants?  Nothing. The Partnership is underwriting all costs in order to remove any barriers to access. Pretty cool, huh? You must sign up to reserve your spot, though. Click here to learn more and reserve your ticket.

I’ve seen some negative dismissals of restorative justice online from people who clearly knew nothing about it and had never taken the time to do the necessary learning to form an educated opinion. These folks appear to be wedded to the concept of good kids/bad kids, where being good means being compliant and being bad should mean punishment. Restorative justice practices truly transform that mindset and are a long-term investment in the lives of our students.

It’s not just about school behavior. Restorative justice focuses on building community, fostering relationships, taking responsibility, and making reparations for harm. Those are skills we all can use throughout our lives.

Check out the event page on Facebook.