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Groton board hears restorative-practices rollout, approves policy for first reading
Summary
The Groton School District received a staff presentation on restorative practices aimed at reducing exclusionary discipline and approved a restorative-practices discipline policy on first reading; administrators outlined training, tiers of response and planned data tracking.
The Groton School District board on July 27 heard a staff presentation and approved a first reading of a new policy to implement restorative practices across the district.
Denise Doolittle, director of pupil services, introduced the initiative and said it is aligned with the Connecticut School Climate guidance. "Restorative practices is intended to increase the amount of time students are learning and decrease the amount of classroom disruption due to challenging behavior," she said, describing circles, tiered responses and classroom-based restorative practice as central elements. Jennifer Theriault, the districtwide social learning coordinator, described starting circles in elementary and introducing them at middle and high schools during advisory or CTL time.
The board asked how the policy handles more serious incidents, how families will be informed and what metrics will be used to judge success. Administrators said the model uses tiered interventions (roughly 80% tier 1, 15% tier 2, 5% tier 3) and that higher-tier restorative conferences require additional training; they also said the district is evaluating data collection tools (PowerSchool logs, PBIS "Swiss," and educator-tracking systems) to generate discipline metrics for board reporting. The first reading passed 8–0; staff said implementation regulations and training plans will return to the board for follow-up.
