Why restorative practices
and community matter
more than ever in the era
of school shootings
Approaches exist that can
combat school violence
and make campuses
safer. Restorative
practices serve as the
launch point.
26
Leadership
This morning, like every morning
when I park in the lot of the middle school
where I am an assistant principal, questions
flood my head in anticipation of the com-
ing day. Which students will need academic
support and interventions today? How can I
best coach that teacher with her long-term
lesson planning to increase her students’
learning? On which students should I per-
form an in-class observation to offer extra
feedback? Never in all my years as an educa-
tor did I consider that a new question should
now come to mind: How do we as a school
keep our students safe from gun violence?
As disheartening as that question is, I find
it equally alarming that for many the knee-
jerk reaction is to create a system where they
judge their students and the potential level
of threat they warrant. I instead would like
to seek alternatives to creating communities
laced with fear. It is natural for a student,
parent, or teacher to feel fearful in the wake
of senseless school shootings, but I person-
ally cannot let that fear govern my bedrock
belief that all students come to school to
seek personal betterment and belonging.
A sociological article from The Conversa-
tion that I read examining the recent wave of
school shootings asked the important ques-
tion of why these shootings are happening. It
also asked the reader to explore what teach-
ers’ and schools’ responses to children are.
The article opined that “how teachers under-
stand the children and youth they teach has
important educational consequences. Are
students budding citizens or future workers?
Are they plants to nourish or clay to mold?”
(Warnick, Johnson, Rocha, 2018) The ar-
ticle mentioned that some schools are now
undergoing staff trainings on “threat assess-
ment,” or telling teachers what troubling
indicators to look for in their students that
By Miriam Singer