Schools test restorative justice plan

By Melissa Moxon and NZPA

HAMILTON - Students at risk of being suspended may be able to stay in school under a pilot restorative justice programme that puts them face to face with their victims. Melville High School in Hamilton is one of six central North Island schools involved in a Waikato University-run trial of group conferences involving families and schools.

Principal Dave Randell said suspension rarely solved the root cause of a problem, but students who faced up to what they had done would be able to see the consequences of their actions. "We're trying to do something more than suspending them, making it a last resort rather than a first resort."

Mr Randell said students might do some sort of community work at the school or help the victim in some way - for example, a student who had damaged someone's bicycle might do the victim's paper run for a few days.

Families from both sides and school officials would attend the conference, which would be arranged if the perpetrator admitted he or she had done something wrong. Sports coaches, kaumatua and outside agencies could also be involved. The aim is to give the schools an alternative to suspensions and cut the number of reoffending students.

The pilot scheme is run by the university's schools of education and law and funded by the Ministry of
Education and the Prime Minister's department.

The other schools taking part are Tongariro High, Edgecumbe College, Kawerau College, Tauranga Boys' College and Opotiki College.

The university-based project director, John Winslade, said the schools would modify the youth justice system's family group conference model.

"It's not a court. It's more about setting things right."

The schools, chosen from 14 applicants, had to have an urban-rural mix, be reasonably poor and have high Maori student numbers. Mr Winslade said between 60 and 70 per cent of suspended students were Maori. Suspension rates have increased in recent years and are up to 12,000 a year.

"We want young people to face up to the consequences of what they've been doing, but we want them to do that among people who care about them. It's not just punitive," said Mr Winslade.

"The danger is suspensions exclude kids from education - not just school."