The Capital Times: “There’s no question that discipline practices that let students own up to their mistakes and find a way to make amends help them avoid messing up again, say students at Madison La Follette High School who guide their schoolmates through the process.
Seniors Celina Pollard, Khaleah Monger and Alex Booker volunteer as “circle keepers” in the school’s restorative justice program, run in partnership with the Madison YWCA.
“It’s amazing,” Pollard says of the way that teenagers are able to move away from behavior that is hurtful to family members or friends. “When we do a circle, they seem never to do that behavior again.”
The circle keepers lead discussions about why a participant acted the way he did and how that behavior is harming others and come up with a way to restore the relationship. Pollard recalls a boy, whose father was stung by his deteriorating academic performance, who wrote his dad a song of apology and started attending the homework club.
“It helps you realize what you did wrong and what you can do to make it better,” Pollard says.
The circles are a great way to short-circuit the drama that flares up among groups of friends, often girls, and frequently on social media, says Monger.”
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