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South Bend Community Schools Hosting All-Day Restorative Justice Dialogue Monday

Justin Hicks / WVPE

The South Bend Community School Corporation is hosting an all-day restorative justice dialogue on July 26 to kick off its Restorative Justice Week.

Kathe Streeter, the district’s restorative justice coordinator, said the event will be a conversation on history, race, justice and language.

 

It provides an overview of the Restorative Justice (RJE) circle process as it relates to Maisha Winn's book “Justice on Both Sides: Transforming Education Through Restorative Justice”. Participants will take part in breakout sessions with restorative justice practitioners.

 

It runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Clay High School at 19131 Darden Road in South Bend and is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

 

Streeter said there’s also a special discussion with Nancy Reistenberg and Becky McCammon, two restorative justice experts from the Minnesota Department of Education, from 8 to 9 a.m.

 

“The key element of the day is going to be the storytelling,” Streeter said. “How do we get better together? How do we talk about these issues that people don’t want to talk about, or don’t know how to talk about? Some people very much want to talk about race history, and others are shy and not sure how.”

 

About 150 people have pre-registered for the event — 20 are community members, and the rest are district employees. Streeter encouraged members of the public to attend.

 

“Everything that we do in restorative justice work is open to the community,” she said. “If you’re interested, show up for the celebrity circle. Come from eight to nine if you can’t do anything else. If you can stay the whole day, you’re welcome.”

 

Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.

 

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Jakob Lazzaro came to Indiana from Chicago, where he graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and a double major in History. Before joining WVPE, he wrote NPR's Source of the Week e-mail newsletter, and previously worked for CalMatters, Pittsburgh's 90.5 WESA and North by Northwestern.