Above: OFFERING OPINIONS: Clarke Central High School adviser Erica Cascio speaks in a community-building circle in her classroom on Sept. 4. Community-building circles are new to the CCHS advisement curriculum in the 2019-20 school year. “I think as we move into more circles, I’m definitely going to push teachers and students to go a little bit deeper,” CCHS counselor and restorative culture leadership team member Ashlee Perry (not pictured) said. “I would love to do some circles that focus on empathy, I would love to do some circles that focus on celebrating diversity, I would love to do some circles that focus on being able to identify with classmates or peers who might be going through similar issues and things outside of school.” Photo by Luna Reichert
A restorative approach
In order to resolve conflict more efficiently and build a positive school culture, Clarke Central High School is implementing restorative justice circles for the 2019-20 school year.
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ith restorative justice circles being implemented into the advisement and discipline curriculums at Clarke Central High School for the first time in the 2019-20 school year, the faculty and administrators seek to build a stronger school community by targeting the source of student conflict. In the last few years, the Clarke County School
BY AUDREY ENGHAUSER News Staffer
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District has followed a national trend of incorporating restorative principles into schools. “Restorative practices are very different (than traditional discipline methods), because we’re not going straight to the punitive. It’s not doing away with that, but it is providing administrators and teachers with other options,” Restorative Schools Coordinator Collisa Lankford said. For CCHS, the initiative includes responsive
circles, which offer a space for the victims and offenders of a conflict to meet, and weekly community-building in advisement that give CCHS students a place to articulate personal problems. “My hope is that the community-building circles will create a safe space to have hard conversations, if and when they need to happen,” CCHS counselor and restorative culture leadership team member Ashlee Perry said. “I think that this sense
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