Restorative Justice Practices

The SDCOE Restorative Justice Practices team regularly offers full-day (8:30 am - 3:00 pm) professional learning sessions at various locations throughout San Diego County. Sessions offered cover foundational topics and practices, conflict intervention/conferencing, and effective approaches to schoolwide implementation. Each session is labeled as Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. It is recommended that prospective participants have completed a session (or its equivalent) at each level before moving on to the next. For questions please contact: Jennifer Vermillion at jennifer.vermillion@sdcoe.net

• The cost is $200 per person, which includes light breakfast, lunch, and materials.
• Registration is open to schools, districts, organizations, and individuals that work with students and educators.

*New and Updated Professional Learning Content Includes:

• Brain-based approaches and strategies for understanding behavior in youth and adults
• Recent research on best practices for implementing Restorative Justice Practices
• Practical role-specific strategies for integrating Restorative approaches and philosophies

Level 1 - Foundational Knowledge and Practice

Level 2 - Restorative Approaches to Conflict

Level 3 - Systems and Implementation

About the Restorative School Design Model

Each year, the SDCOE Restorative Justice Practices (RJP) Team closely partners with a few select schools and/or LEAs to support sustainable and systemic implementation of Restorative Justice Practices through tailored professional learning, coaching, and consultation. Compared to the traditional “train and hope” approach, the Restorative School Design Partnership model aims to support schools and their staff in integrating new practices by bringing our facilitators/trainers to school sites to deliver customized learning that meets the needs of the community.

Components of the Restorative School Design Model

The Restorative School Design model includes the following components which work together to support a whole-school approach to RJP implementation:

• Professional Learning Sessions
  • Onsite with staff (3+ hours each occurrence, 2 sessions minimum per year)
  • Relevant role-specific content (e.g. Certificated and Classified staff)
• Practitioner Reflection Sessions
  • Follow-up reflection sessions to revisit and deepen learning, apply new strategies, and troubleshoot implementation challenges (2 hours each occurrence, 2+ sessions minimum per year)
• Leadership Team Support
  • Ongoing meetings with a leadership team to support implementation through alignment of school policy and practices with Restorative philosophies and approaches to relationships, community, and behavior, determining priority areas of need, building capacity, and co-designing the professional learning plan. (1.5 hours+ each occurrence, 4+ sessions minimum per year)

Our Approach

• Focus on depth before breadth
• Be respectful guests in a school or district community and honor the lived experiences and wisdom of its leaders and members
• Engage with our partners through processes that center collaboration, co-creation, and co-design
• Humanize all members of school and district communities including those who may be resistant to change
• Deliver learning experiences that are relevant, engaging, and impactful

Current Availability

• There are currently no available slots for the current cohort of Restorative School Design partners at this time. Please contact Jennifer Vermillion at jennifer.vermillion@sdcoe.net to be placed on the interest list for upcoming cohorts (expected openings beginning in Spring 2026).

While video learning modules cannot replace the experiential nature of in-person professional learning, they can provide an important starting point for an individual or team to explore how Restorative Justice Practices (RJP) might fit into their context. These videos are not intended to replace proper training, rather they serve as support to school teams to begin their Restorative journeys together. These resources are free and available to the public and contain companion resources as a guide through the material.

Restorative Justice Practices Overview

Restorative Parenting Series

• Circles Overview Format Guide, San Francisco Unified School District
• Restorative Communities Resource Guide, Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
• Circle Forward, Living Justice Press
• 12 Indicators of RP Implementation: Checklists for Administrators, Rutgers University

• Defining Restorative, International Institute of Restorative Practices
• Restorative Practices: A Toolkit for Educators, Santa Clara County Office of Education
• The Toolkit Before the Toolkit: Centering Adaptive and Relational Elements of Restorative Practices for Implementation Success, WestEd

• Fostering Belonging, Transforming Schools - The Impact of Restorative Practices, Learning Policy Institute
• The Starts and Stumbles of Restorative Justice in Education: Where Do We Go from Here?, National Education Policy Center
• The Promise of Restorative Practices to Transform Teacher-Student Relationships and Achieve Equity in School Discipline, Rutgers University