Fix School Discipline Toolkit for Educators | Page 40

back up in the morning. He then sent Elvin back
to his classroom and escorted Arnold* back to his
classroom, on the way back downstairs.
Back in his office, Principal Jacobsen wrote both
students’ names on a dry erase board labeled
“Parking Lot” on the wall next to his door. He also
telephoned the parents and caregivers of both
students. He explained to each of them that there
had been tensions between the 4th and 5th grade
boys for a few days and that Arnold and Elvin
were unable to make leeway during a restorative
conference.
After he ended the second parent phone call,
Principal Jacobsen commented on that day’s
progress, “Usually you don’t take an hour settling a
conflict but sometimes, you must. Sometimes you
also need the parents to come in because when they
are involved, we have a better chance of long term

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How we can fix school discipline

success.”
After helping students during dismissal, Principal
Jacobsen headed up to the library for the Parent
Empowerment class. Parents who attend the class are
taught about RP principles and practices that they
can use with their children. The class began with a
circle in which the facilitator, Ms. Geiges, who is on a RP
leadership team, explained that the class would begin
and end with a circle. In the opening circle, Ms. Geiges
described the talking piece, “The only person who has
the right to speak is the one holding the talking piece; it
allows us to slow down, think about what we are about
to say and listen to the other people in the circle.” She
then asked every person in the circle to explain their
knowledge about and/or relationship with RP principles.
One of the parents related the successful use of
affective statements, the strategy that she had learned
the prior week. Through an interpreter, she said, “I