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District outlines restorative practices rollout and metrics after early results
Summary
District deans and student services staff presented a plan to expand restorative practices and repair conferences, including training for student-services staff, monthly discipline tracking, and a dashboard to monitor repeat referrals; presenters said early short-term data (since March) suggested repair conferences prevented repeat referrals roughly 75–80% of the time.
District administrators presented a phased plan to expand restorative practices across Warren Township High School District 121, emphasizing repair conferences as a tool to restore relationships after incidents between students or between students and teachers. Dean Nate Karasek introduced the team and said the district will train student-services staff and use department meeting (PLT) time for ongoing professional development.
Presenters described how repair conferences are offered (not mandatory) and intended to help both parties reflect, articulate harms and agree on a plan so students can return to class with clearer expectations. The district said it will track discipline data monthly, recording how many repair conferences occur and whether behaviors repeat after the intervention; that follow-up measure is the primary test of success. A presenter summarized earlier short data spanning since March, saying “roughly 75 to 80% of the time it worked,” meaning repeated referrals for the same teacher declined in that short sample.
Board members asked about students who are referred across multiple teachers and how the program ties into existing MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support). District staff said repair conferences are a Tier 2 strategy and that students with referrals across multiple teachers would move into Tier 3 supports with more intensive wraparound services (counselors, social workers, case managers). The district also shared a draft dashboard to let the board and staff see intervention counts and trends across the year.
Presenters framed repair conferences as one strategy amid broader supports, and cautioned that a single conference may not resolve every case; they said follow-up steps (more intense interventions, social worker involvement) are available when behaviors persist.
The board and parents praised the team’s work and asked the administration to continue reporting clear baseline and comparative data so the board can evaluate whether restorative practices reduce repeat referrals over time.
