Deepening Our Restorative Justice Practice

During our most recent Professional Development Day, Touchstone faculty spent the morning continuing our work with restorative justice. This learning builds on training with Amplify RJ and reflects our ongoing commitment to creating a school culture rooted in belonging, accountability, and relationship.

Restorative justice is more than a set of strategies for responding to conflict. It is a way of understanding community. It asks us to consider how culture, identity, and power shape our classrooms and our responses to behavior. As part of our work, faculty examined how dominant cultural norms in U.S. schools, such as urgency, perfectionism, individualism, and a focus on control, can influence the way adults respond when harm occurs. Most of us were educated within these systems and our work as educators is in part unlearning to build something different. Naming that reality allows us to be more intentional in our choices.

We talked honestly about how easy it can be, especially when we feel stretched or overwhelmed, to default to quick consequences rather than slowing down to stay in relationship. Restorative practices invite us to pause, to listen carefully, to share power with students, and to trust that accountability and repair are stronger and more lasting than punishment.

This does not mean we avoid addressing harm. In fact, restorative justice centers accountability. When conflict happens, students are guided to understand impact, take responsibility, and actively repair relationships. Our goal is not compliance in the moment, but growth over time.

This work is ongoing. It requires humility, reflection, and a willingness to keep learning together. We are proud of our faculty for engaging in these conversations and for continuing to strengthen the relational foundation that makes Touchstone such a connected and caring community.

Thank you for partnering with us in this work.



Written by Anne Lewenberg