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Restorative Justice and Schools: A Ground-Level View

Oscar Reed and Jamie Williams from The Restorative Way and Minneapolis Public Schools Contractors/Facilitators

Oscar Reed and Jamie Williams, MA, are Restorative Justice / Practices / Measures consultants with more than 50 years of experience between them working with young people in a variety of school and community settings. They have been trainers, classroom mentors and Circle Keepers for the Minneapolis public schools, suburban districts, charter schools, alternative learning centers, the University of Minnesota Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (Dr. Mark Umbreit), school districts across the country, HennepinCounty, RamseyCounty, Amicus, the Minnesota Department of Corrections and many other organizations.

Their organization is called The Restorative Way...whose mission is to enhance and expand opportunities to help create restorative cultures in schools, communities, businesses, correctional systems, families and faith based organizations. It is also to create opportunities for people to make positive healing connections.

Oscar is currently the Multi-Cultural Director at St. Louis Park High School. His "Boys to Men" Circle has been in existence over 8 years. Oscar's mission is "to help save our children one child at a time" Oscar is a former Minnesota Viking who played with as much passion as he now serves people with.

Jamie is currently the Restorative Justice Coordinator for Bayfield School in northern Wisconsin and a support to Project Launch at Red Cliff Early Childhood Center. When Jamie heard the definition of a "calling" by F. Buechner "When a deep gladness in your heart meets a deep hunger in the world," she knew she was "called" to keeping the Circle strong and present in schools and communities. Jamie's Masters Degree is in Restorative Justice.

Nancy Riestenberg has over twenty-five years of experience in the fields of violence prevention education, child sexual abuse prevention and restorative measures in schools. She has worked with school districts in Minnesota and 20 other states, and speaks nationally on restorative measures at conferences and through trainings. She provides technical assistance on violence and bullying prevention, school connectedness, school climate, disproportionate minority representation in suspensions and expulsions dropout prevention, cultural relevance of prevention education, crisis prevention and recovery and restorative measures.

Nancy was a member of the design team for the National Institute of Corrections' restorative conferencing curriculum, Facilitating Restorative Group Conferences. She presented at the Restorative Approaches to Conflict in Schools Seminar at the University of Edinburgh.

Prior to coming to the Minnesota Department of Education, Nancy worked for twelve years with the Illusion Theater's Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, which created and toured educational plays on child sexual abuse, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS prevention education. She coordinated the adaptation of Touch, the child sexual abuse prevention play, for the Red Lake People, and trained high school students in twenty different school districts in eight states to present social issue prevention plays to their peers.

Nancy is author of Circle in The Square, a bestselling book published by Living Justice Press. She writes warmly and with long experience about the challenges facing school communities and how restorative measures¬ specifically Circles¬ create a safer space for learning and development for all. Using stories direct from the hallways, she brings heart to subjects that are often divisive and controversial: bullying and other violence, suspension, drug use, staff conflicts, and more. Throughout the book, Nancy s focus is on strategies that actually work for the whole school community: students, parents, administrators, teachers, and the community in which they live.

Author of Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth and Heart of Hope

Carolyn Boyes-Watson is the founding director of Suffolk University's Center for Restorative Justice and an associate professor of sociology at Suffolk University. Professor Boyes-Watson has been on the faculty since 1993. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.

She is the author of Peacemaking Circles for Urban Youth and Co-Author with Kay Pranis of Heart of Hope: A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing, and Build Healthy Relationships

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