Jabari Cobb, the Director of Behavior Supports & Discipline for Clarke County School District, shares the impact that GCC has made--school by school--and how his involvement with restorative practices has strengthened.

This model of social and emotional learning emphasizes mutual aid, restorative justice and safety by design.

Over the last school year, Bridger Middle School leaders decided to take a different approach to deal with the fighting and students acting out.

Despite a dramatic decline in suspensions as students moved to remote learning during the pandemic, Black children and those in special education were disciplined far more often than white students and those in general education, according to a recent New York University study.

That predictable, structured place to safely share is critical, especially for students who want to take on society’s bigger challenges, Swearingen said. “It puts us in a spot where we can be vulnerable with each other, and because we can be vulnerable together we can be productive.”

Angela Monell and Southwest Guilford High School are committed to restorative practices as a way to keep kids in class and out of trouble.