Can teaching KC students to handle conflict prevent violence? This program shows them how
The stabbing death of Northeast Middle School student Manuel Guzman has left students, school staff, families and community members wondering how something like this could have happened.
Northeast Middle had safety measures in place: Metal detectors, security guards, a clear backpack policy and regular search practices, but officials weren’t able to successfully prevent the tragedy and are investigating if anything else could have been done.
Some people like Annette Lantz-Simmons, the executive director of Kansas City’s Center for Conflict Resolution, say those aren’t the only things that can make schools safer.
She and other advocates say programs that help students handle stress and conflict are shown to reduce violence in schools too.
Since 2010, the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) has worked with thousands of Kansas City students on bullying prevention, conflict resolution, anger management and leadership skills, and Lantz-Simmons said they’ve seen positive results.
Based on surveys taken before and after the six week course, 95% of the students CCR has worked with stated that they would resolve a conflict by being peaceful. And the majority of students who frequently had physical fights reported fewer fights after finishing the CCR’s restorative justice classes.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the center has trained over 800 teachers and administrators, and it is currently working closely with eight public and charter schools.
Kansas City Public Schools utilizes restorative justice practices and has staff trained by CCR in its buildings, including a coordinator dedicated to Northeast Middle School. When asked by The Star, KCPS did not wish to comment for this story.
From punishment to restorative justice
Lantz-Simmons said school systems often treat students who do harm or are at risk of doing harm the same way society treats adults who do harm.
“School systems have kind of been based on our criminal justice system,” Lantz-Simmons said. “But what we know is that punishment does not change behavior.”
The CCR’s restorative justice programming instead aims to give students a place to speak their minds and the tools they need to deal with conflict peacefully before a violent act occurs.
“What does change behavior is relationships, interaction, sticking with a kid who did harm to walk them through the consequences of that, how that affected the other party, so that they can see the human face of the person that they harmed,” she said.
Restorative justice is a practice that addresses conflict on a personal level by acknowledging the underlying issues and harm caused, and taking steps to repair that harm.
“With a restorative justice system, the people who are involved in the harm get a say in how to make that as right as possible. So it’s based on relationships. It’s based on people having a voice in what happens,” Lantz-Simmons said.
The practice is also known for its talking circles where people can talk about the causes of a conflict before or after it leads to something violent or harmful.
How does the program work?
Before Lantz-Simmons and her team meet with students, they first work with adults in the school to train them on the restorative justice process.
“We talk about conflict resolution skills. We talk about trauma, and we talk about circle processes,” Lantz-Simmons said.
Next, the CCR works with the students over the course of six weeks, leading hour and a half long sessions each week. In most cases the student trainings are held in the classroom, where the CCR team can reach the most students.
In sessions, students learn about the circle process, which Lantz-Simmons described as a formal conversation between students so they can learn how to hash out issues as they arise.
“Kids don’t get heard a lot of times, and in a circle process, they do,” Lantz-Simmons said. “So they’re knowing that they have power, they’re knowing that they have a voice.”
Another tool they teach students is the T.A.L.K. method. The acronym stands for:
Take a beat, stop, cool off.
Ask the person’s perspective and share your own.
List options to solve the conflict.
Keep it real, make a plan.
In other cases, administrators will give Lantz-Simmons’ team a list of students who could use extra support.
“They wait until we get there, tell us what kids are involved, and then we start pulling kids out of class to just have a one-on-one conversation with them,” Lantz-Simmons said.
They talk through the consequences of fighting and how reacting to the issue might affect the students involved.
Finally, students involved are brought together to have a mediated conversation.
“It’s about slowing down the escalation and helping people get to their thinking brain instead of their fight, flight or freeze brain,” she said.
What are the challenges with restorative justice?
Although restorative justice is often praised as an effective approach to conflict resolution and violence prevention in schools, there are some limitations.
“It takes time. It takes effort.” Lantz-Simmons said.
A deep shift towards a “restorative-oriented climate” in a school can take up to five years, according to study on restorative justice in U.S. schools by WestEd, a research nonprofit based in California.
The study added that a lack of buy-in from teachers and a lack of consensus on the best ways to implement restorative justice can also be a challenge to schools.
“We’ve talked to many teachers and administrators that say, ‘I don’t have time to do this. I don’t have time to do circles in my class, don’t have time to pull kids out to have conversations with them,’” Lantz-Simmons said.
Many schools do reach out to the CCR for their expertise, but Lantz-Simmons said sometimes finding the funding to pay for the program can be an obstacle as well. The center currently has 15 staff members and 20 trained mediators. They also accept volunteers and train people in the community who can go on to help others.
How to help?
CCR is growing, and people who are interested in getting involved can take a week-long mediation training to get started. To learn more about how to volunteer call 816-461-8255 or visit www.ccrkc.org.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
