Running head: ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION 1

Alternatives to Suspension

AmySue M. Hopkins

Central Michigan University

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Abstract

Currently school use a variety of consequences for behaviors that are deemed negative.

Loss of recess, lunch or after school detention, calls or emails home, and in-school or out-of-

school suspension are just some of the ways behavior is dealt with at the school level. Both in-

school and out-of-school suspensions means loss of critical minutes of in-class time. The current

trend supports a system of punitive discipline (Payne and Welch, 2015).

The first part of this paper will address three ideas that offer alternatives to suspension.

Restorative Justice RJ, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports PBIS, and social work and

psychologist time, each provide unique supports to assist our students who face challenges

dealing with time out of class due to behavior concerns.

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Alternatives to Suspension

Restorative Practices

The first alternative to suspension discussed will be restorative practices. These are the

practices used with restorative justice.

A restorative justice bill HB 5619 passed the Michigan House and Senate and became

law on August 1, 2017. This law states that “A school board or its designee shall consider using

restorative practices as an alternative or in addition to suspension or expulsion under this act.”

This is an unfunded mandate which means that although schools must consider implementing

restorative justice, there are no funds to help put these programs into place.

Schools are scrambling looking for funds and resources to help make this program a

reality in their districts. The Resolution Services Center is the local organization that can assist

schools and districts. They offer financial assistance for schools that can fund $30,000 to bring a

restorative justice coach into their school or schools. The Resolution Services Center trains the

teacher in restorative justice and supplements their pay so they receive a regular teacher salary

(29, June 2017). Retrieved from https://rsccm.org/

Restorative Practices are used in schools to help students focus on the relationships they

can have with their classmates, teachers, and school staff. Restorative Practices also work

towards developing skills in communication and fixing the harm caused by a negative situation

in school (Ingraham, Hokoda, Moehlenbruck, Karafin, Manzo, and Ramirez, 2016).

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports PBIS is another alternative to suspensions.

PBIS is an entire positive behavior program for managing a school. PBIS is “a decision-making
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framework for improving student academic and behavior outcomes through the use of evidence-

based practices and interventions (Ingraham, Hokoda, Moehlenbruck, Karafin, Manzo, and

Ramirez, 2016, p. 356). The idea with a positive behavior system of supports is that there will be

less need for consequences as students are acknowledged more for the positive.

CHAMPS: A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management by Randy

Sprick (2009) is one such program that many districts are implementing. Up until the 2017-18

school year, many trainings through the Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton Intermediate School

Districts were offered multiple times throughout the year.

Social Work and Psychologist Time

Another idea that could work in conjunction with any of the above ideas is to provide

additional hours of social worker and psychologist time in the school. This would provide

additional time for alternative class or school-wide programs to be implemented in the

classrooms. Additional social work and psychologist time would also provide additional time for

one-on-one or group-style therapy to be done ongoing or as needed to support students in need.

Restorative Justice

The change I recommend that my district implements is Restorative Justice. There are

many reasons why this is the best choice for us: increases time in school and class, teaches life

skills in communication and conflict management, and provides a positive place outside the

classroom for behavior concerns can be dealt.

Colombi and Osher state that “when students are suspended or expelled, they lost

valuable instructional time, cannot benefit from class participation, are less likely to complete

schoolwork, and are more likely to subsequently skip school.” (2015, p. 6). In order for students

to continue learning, they need to be in the classroom. Suspensions from school rarely correct
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the concerning behavior. In addition to not helping correct negative behaviors, students who are

suspended often deal with negative effects of suspension (Raffaele Mendez, Knoff, 2003).

Communication is of key importance to circles with restorative justice. These circles

provide an opportunity to the victim and the offender to meet and discuss a situation. “The circle

has a wide variety of purposes: conflict resolution, healing, support, decision making,

information exchange and relationship development.” (Wachtel, 2016, p. 8).

A restorative justice person in the schools provides a place for students to go outside of

the classroom when things aren’t going right for a student. This also affords teachers the

opportunity to continue teaching while a student has a place to go when they cannot be in the

classroom (G. Trice, interview, April 19, 2018).

Early forms of what is now referred to as restorative justice were used in the circles of

Native American tribes (McNair, Olsen, and Harris, 2017). The modern form of restorative

justice started in the 1970s and was first utilized through courts for mediation and reconciliation

(Wachtel, 2016). Resolution Services, located in Lansing, Michigan, opened their doors in 2004

to provide support in both schools and courts in this area (G. Trice, interview, April 19, 2018).

Michigan House Bill 5619 which became law on August 1, 2017, states that school

boards need to consider restorative practices as alternatives to suspension. This law does not

mandate Restorative Justice. In Sec. 1310c. (1) the law states that “A school board or its

designee shall consider using restorative practices as an alternative or in addition to suspension

or expulsion under this act.” Although restorative practices are now expected to be “considered,”

they are not a requirement or mandate per se.

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Policy Instruments

One policy instrument I would use is inducements. Resolution Services offers a sort of

“matching funds” with districts or schools. If a district can come up with about $30,000, then

Resolution Services hires, trains, provides support, and supplements the cost of a full-time

restorative justice person.

Another instrument is mandates. Since part of the reason for choosing Restorative Justice

is to comply with Michigan HB no. 5619, staff members would be required to comply after the

district adopted an official policy. Fowler (2013) discusses that there are two components of

mandates: “(1) language that spells out required behavior for all people in a specified social

group, and (2) a prescribed penalty for those who fail to comply.” (p. 223). For this bill, the

mandate is for school boards to consider alternatives to suspension. One of the specific

suggestions that is made on the Michigan Department of Education website is

Audience

This information will be used to meet with Mason Public Schools Executive Curriculum

Director, Rick Brooks, the Superintendent, Ronald Drzewicki, and the Mason Public Schools

Board of Education. A private meeting would be set up first with the curriculum director, and the

superintendent would be invited. Teachers would need to be included in every aspect of moving

restorative justice into the school. Without the support of teachers, this program will not work.

In Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model would be provide a great deal of support in establishing plans

to bring restorative justice (Kotter, 2010).

Criticisms

One of the major criticisms of adopting Restorative Justice in our school will be the cost.

A Restorative Justice staff member would be a teacher that would be offered the same benefits as
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a full-time teacher. There are many options to financially help support the partial cost of a

Restorative Justice person on staff. Resolution Services who trains individuals in restorative

justice/restorative practices has some funds to help support the cost bringing restorative justice

into schools. They also have other suggestions for obtaining funding by contacting local

representatives and senators (Resolution Services, 2018).

Another criticism of Restorative Justice that should be addressed from the start is the

amount of time it takes. To handle Restorative Justice as intended, students will miss time from

one or more of their classes. The amount of time missed from classes depends on the situation

and the number of other students involved. The time out of the classroom might be more at the

beginning as students are learning the skills to deal with different situations. As time goes on

and students understand more of the methods of restorative justice, many situations could be

handled much more quickly.

This is an issue that would need to be addressed with teachers from the start as it seems

that many educators have already heard about and are preemptively worried about the issue of

time. This concern could be handled in Kotter’s 8-Stages change model during step five which is

about removing obstacles by checking for the barriers and resistance (Kotter, 2010).

I have obtained permission to start seeking out funding to begin a restorative justice

program at North Aurelius Elementary School in Mason which is the first step in this program. I

will work with Resolution Services who has a list of potential funding sources and suggestions of

where to look for funds. This includes contacting local senators and representatives who can

hopefully connect us with an agency or funding source that would be available for us to use.

After obtaining the funding, I will meet with the Curriculum Director in my district. He

is the person who needs to understand any new programs that are involved within the district.
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When meeting with him, I would invite the superintendent, and the prinicipals from the other

elementary schools. Finally, within this process I would also want to meet with the Mason Board

of Education, parents of North Aurelius students, and community if needed. By being

transparent on all of the information that all of the key players would want to know about the

program.

Since this is a regular process for Resolution Services and since they will be helping to

financial support this program, I would want them involved every step along the way. They have

many resources in the form of videos and handouts that can be informative and shared

throughout the community. This could provide an opportunity for us to use materials that

already exist (G. Trice, interview, April 19, 2018).

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References

Colombi, G. and Osher, D. (2015). Advancing school discipline reform. Education Leaders

Report, 1(2). Arlington, VA: National Association of State Boards of Education.

Establishment of House Bill No. 5619, 98th Legislature (2016). Retrieved from

https://legiscan.com/MI/text/HB5619/2015

Ingraham, C. L., Hokoda, A., Moehlenbruck, D., Karafin, M., Manzo, C., and Ramirez, D.

(2016). Consultation and collaboration to develop and implement restorative practices in

a culturally and linguistically diverse elementary school. Journal of Educational and

Psychological Consultation, 26(4), 354-384. doi: 10.1080/10474412.2015.1124782

Payne, A. A. and Welch, K. (2015). Restorative justice in schools: The influence of race on

restorative discipline. Youth & Society, 47(4), 539-564. doi: 10.1177/0044118X12473125

Raffaele Mendez, L. M. and Knoff, H. M. (2003). Who get suspended from school and why: A

demographic analysis of schools and disciplinary infractions in a large school district.

Education and Treatment of Children, 27(1), 30-41.

Resolution Services Center. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.rsccm.org/

Sprick, R. (2009). CHAMPS: A proactive & positive approach to classroom management, 2nd

ed. Eugene, OR: Pacific Northwest Publishing.

State of Michigan. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-

2016/publicact/pdf/2016-PA-0361.pdf

Wachtel, T. (2016). Defining Restorative [handout]. Retrieved from

https://www.iirp.edu/defining-restorative/history
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