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March
for justice (November 2004) | U
of S students stirring
MRCI
Justice program faces
uncertain future
Darren Bernhardt, The StarPhoenix,
November 16, 2004
An innovative program at Mount
Royal Collegiate, which teaches students to resolve conflicts
such as bullying and hostilities, is celebrating its first anniversary
but facing an uncertain future.
"At this time we face
some challenges. We're in a three-year pilot project which means
we have a year and a half to convince whomever it is we need
to convince that this is a great initiative that needs to be
sustained for the long term," said Nina Henry, community
co-ordinator at the Rusholme Road school, and one of the founders
of the restorative justice program.
"It's a worry," conceded
principal Basil Hughton.
"We have to sell the school
division on this but my wish is for the success of the program
to sell itself. If the board (of education) doesn't see fit to
(fund) it, then we'll have to find it somewhere else."
George Rathwell, deputy director
of the public board of education, values the program but acknowledged
it is another thing competing for the division's scant amount
of resources.
"We believe it has made
a difference in that building and given students a powerful tool,"
he said.
"What we learn from there,
I'm sure, will be incorporated into other schools. Hopefully
we'll find the funds to sustain it but I can't say that for certain."
With a new west side collegiate
in the division's plans, Rathwell is hopeful it will help ease
Mount Royal's population pressure -- a contributing factor to
discord. Many of the students live west of Circle Drive, where
the new school is to be built in 2007.
The school's population of
1,350 and another 250 at Royal West (for at-risk students) is
larger than that of some Saskatchewan towns.
The seed for the restorative
justice program was planted in 2000 when Henry and former Mount
Royal principal John Dewar sat across the table from a provincial
court judge, discussing how to keep kids in school and away from
the iniquity of street culture.
They put together a proposal
and took it to various federal, provincial and non-governmental
organizations for financial support "and everybody said
no," Henry recalled. "John and I were devastated until
we met the Rotary Club."
Within eight months, a full-fledged
partnership had developed and a blueprint for the program was
in place. With the help of that organization, additional funding
was eventually provided by several partners, including the provincial
government, City of Saskatoon, Saskatoon Credit Union, United
Way and Cameco Corporation. The public school division offered
in-kind donations such as space and equipment for Dean Kabaroff,
a sociologist hired by the school.
In 2003-04, the program's first
year, 171 students were served by Kabaroff's mediation process.
"Not to mention a numerous
amount of students who came down (to his office) asking for advice
without having gone through the mediation process," Kabaroff
said at a school event Monday to kick off Restorative Justice
Week in Saskatoon. "It shows a lot about how students want
to commit to resolving conflict."
Kabaroff, a former staffer
of the anger management program at the Saskatoon Correctional
Centre, is the intermediary in disputes between students, students
and teachers and concerns students might have away from school,
such as within their family or with others in the community.
He offers one-on-one meetings
with the parties involved, peace circles (a popular choice at
the school, whose student population is 35 per cent aboriginal),
or community accountability conferences involving the victim,
offender and other stakeholders.
The program has had an 88 per
cent success rate, measured by whether the parties followed through
with the agreement reached, if both sides were satisfied and
if the conflict had ceased.
"It has been a huge boon
to us and our staff over the past year to have Dean here,"
said Hughton. "We are improving the school climate, which
is good for everyone."
The school is already realizing
a reduction in dropouts, suspensions and fights.
"Punitive kinds of discipline
are not effective anymore -- a three-day suspension is seen as
a three-day holiday by some students and doesn't get to the matter
at its root," Hughton said.
Kabaroff also provides in-class
presentations and heads up a leadership camp in summer. Last
June, 19 students were taught mediation skills at the training
session. What they learn are lifelong skills that can be used
at school, at work, at home, he said.
"Kids trained with conflict
skills can bring it down in their peer group quicker than a staff
member. I think that's very important."
An adult conflict resolution
workshop has also been offered on Tuesday nights at the school.
Another session is planned for early in the new year. An employment
readiness program for senior students and a mentor program for
Grade 9 students are being undertaken this year.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
