Join Coronado SAFE, with Dr. Dominique Smith, on Monday evening, November 5 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Coronado Performing Arts Center (Coronado High School).
Registration on CoronadoSAFE.org
Join Us and Learn:
- Why CUSD & educators world wide are using Restorative Practices
- An alternative strategy for safety, accountability, & fairness
- Problem solving skills for our youth
- Effective ways to build relationships
- How to build a community that reduces bullying, teen suicide & school shootings
The underlying premise of Restorative Practices rests with the belief that people will make positive changes when those in positions of authority do things with them rather than to them or for them.
There has been a movement surging throughout the judicial and educational systems. It’s name, Restorative Justice. The concept spans from international reconciliation commissions for crimes against humanity to kindergarten classroom restorative circles for peer to peer conflict. Each restorative circle seeks to answer the following questions: What happened? (Violation) What was the harm and who was affected? (Responsibility) What needs to be done to repair the harm? (Resolution).
The intent of these questions is create an understanding and accountability of one’s actions, how our social realm is affected by it, build empathy, repair relationship and reintegrate back into community setting. These goals are achieved by moving from a paradigm of coercion to healing, from solely individual to individual to include collective accountability, from primary dependence on the state (teacher/parental authority) to greater self-reliance within the community and family, and from justice as “getting even” to justice as “getting well.”
Dominique Smith is the Chief of Educational Services and Teacher Relations at Health Sciences and Middle College (HSHMC) located in San Diego, CA. Dominique has helped transform HSHMC to become a restorative school with his efforts in building relationships with student and hearing student voice. His focuses on school wide mind shifts to restorative practices and school equity have taken him across the world to help schools make change. He has published books with authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, “Better than Carrots and Sticks” and “Building Equity, Policies and Practices to Empower All Learners,” and “Engagement by Design”. In 2014 Dominique was the recipient of the National School Safety Advocacy Award. Dominique focuses on creating a well-rounded school climate to allow the growth of all students to become the best student they can be. He believes students have the right to feel like they have a future and can be successful no matter any situation.
