And they are ones that every educator can contribute towards solving.

“Our real problems are about our shared humanity, about our sense of belonging, about our connections to one another and to the world we inhabit,” she said in a keynote address at 91����Ƶ’s fourth annual Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) Conference. 

But a shared ethos of restorative justice has the potential to create change in our educational system, she added.

“RJE begins and ends with the values of dignity, respect and mutual concern for one another and upholds an underlying conviction that all people, and all means all, y’all, children and youth, parents and caregivers, educators, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and custodial staff,” Evans said. “All people are worthy, relational, and interconnected.”

Conference gathers new and experienced RJE practitioners

For the more than 100 conference participants, many of whom invested two days of their summer vacation and drove hundreds of miles, Evans’ message is one that resonates deeply.

“This opportunity really emphasizes learning about and sharing positive principles and practices in our work towards creating just and equitable learning environments,” said graduate teacher education program director Meg Sander. “In that kind of environment, everyone in the community can nurture and develop healthy relationships and transform conflict. We can all effect change.”

The annual summer event, hosted by 91����Ƶ’s programs, has always drawn participants from several states, growing in diversity as RJE practices are expanding across the country. The June 25-26 event included participants from North Carolina, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York and Virginia, representing 11 districts. 

In addition to administrators, teachers, counselors and behavioral specialists working in the schools, other attendees included therapists and counselors, community service board employees, and representatives from the Office on Youth, as well as the University of Delaware.

The conference included skill- and knowledge-building sessions on tracks for novice and more experienced practitioners as well as reflective sessions in which participants could think about how learnings about RJE can be implemented or considered within current practices and cultures.

Presenters included: 

• Diana Degner MA ’17 (confict transformation), circles practitioner;
• Emily Imgram GC ‘19, an ELL teacher with Harrisonburg City Schools; 
• Laura Feichtinger-McGrath GC ‘18, an EL coordinator with Harrisonburg City Schools;
• Connie Honsinger, trauma informed specialist, Chesterfield County Public Schools.
• April Howard GC ‘18, executive director of psychological and student services for Harrisonburg City Schools;
• Jennifer Morris ‘91, principal, Shelburne Middle School, Staunton, Virginia;
• Sal Romero, coordinator of family and community engagement, Harrisonburg City Schools, and past member of the Virginia Board of Education; and
• Kendal Swartzentruber ‘07, MA ‘12 (education), an education coordinator at the Virginia Department of Education.

Evans: RJE can address critical, systemic issues

Among the larger themes of the event was the potentiality of RJE — how its principles and practices can empower the individual to effect ripples of systemic change.

Evans focused her keynote on how restorative justice practices can address three criticisms of the American educational system related by RJ practitioner Jasmyn Story at the recent NACRJ conference: toxic individualism, an over-reliance on hierarchies, and a de-tethering of ourselves.

Without budgeting money or hiring new personnel, these problems can be addressed anew by individuals who practice the principles of restorative justice within their own context, Evans said. “We don’t have to burn it all down and start over. Each of us in our own way can do this work to combat these problems.”

Panelists emphasize networking, collaboration

Four RJ professionals were invited for a panel session on the second morning that highlighted the “multi-tiered systems of support that can help us engage kids,” said Evans in her introduction. 

“We can do all kinds of beautiful things in the classroom,” she said, “but what do we do with those behaviors that are defined as severe in this current climate? How do we handle things through a restorative lens that keeps them from being referred to the courts, and if they are referred to the courts, how can we help get them the support they need?”

Panelists brought perspectives and experiences working within different organizational structures in the criminal justice, advocacy, social services, and educational environments.

• Tashika Moore, of Wilmington, Delaware, works with several organizations, including the NAACP and the Delaware Center for Justice, to advocate for children and youth. She hosts circles, conducts trainings, and works in policy development with legislators, building upon 12 years of experience in mental and behavioral health with adjudicated adolescent youth.
• Barbie Fischer MA ‘12 (conflict transformation) is executive director of Restorative Encounters, an association of RJ practitioners and advocacy organization. She also works with the Delaware Center for Justice as the victim restoration and community mediation program coordinator.  
• Vickie Shoap is a restorative justice specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools, the 11th largest school district in the country. Her team of seven serves 245 schools in a variety of capacities, from  “bringing RJ practices to classrooms, to teaching about how to live in community to restorative justice itself.” Her background is in RJ diversion with the juvenile court system.
• Donna Chewning MA ‘05 (conflict transformation) facilitates restorative circles in middle schools in Roanoke, VA and mediates civil, juvenile, and domestic relations court cases in southwest Virginia.

Panelists urged conference participants to be aware of local and state legislation. Moore was an active advocate for Delaware’s SB 85, a bill that legislated monitoring and evaluation of schools with significant suspension disparities and also promotes restorative justice. 

Fischer emphasized that Moore’s legislative advocacy empowered her. “Social capital, networking and community help me do my work,” she said. “We forget about this core tenet sometimes. Who do we know and who do they know and how can they help us accomplish our goals for the betterment of our community?”

Want to learn more?

The next RJE Conference will be June 23-24, 2020.

In addition to the MA in Education and MA in Restorative Justice in Education programs, 91����Ƶ offers a graduate certificate in restorative justice in education with flexible study options for professionals, including summer courses, weekend courses and single-day-a-week semester options. 

, a product of Harrisonburg’s public schools who started answering calls with the city’s all-volunteer rescue squad when she was still a teenager, says that, through those experiences and similar ones, she came to realize that “events that are critical in the moment can have long-lasting impacts.”

As director of the MA in Education program, Sander will help teachers earn master’s degrees – in most cases as they continue to work full-time in the classroom. She is responsible for about 75 students on 91����Ƶ’s Harrisonburg campus and nearly 100 more at its site in . She will teach three classes this year.

A passion for teacher preparation

Each day, Sander says, students arrive at school fresh from life-events that in some cases are positive, and in others quite traumatic. On any given day, she says, a teacher likely won’t know with any certainty what sorts of experiences underlie a child’s readiness to learn.

Sander compares the challenges confronting the classroom teacher with those an emergency medical technician faces. A first responder must always be ready, she notes, to provide whatever it is that a person calling 911 may need.

“It’s the same for the teacher,” Sander says. “No matter what needs a child brings to the classroom, it’s a teacher’s obligation to be prepared to meet those needs before the child walks through the door.”

Sander’s own classroom-teaching experience came working with special education students in Virginia.

“Serving those students is the reason teacher preparation is so important to me,” she says. “High quality preparation is clearly of benefit to the teaching professionals themselves, and through them we serve the children.”

Legal training a unique qualification

Sander’s doctorate in education with a concentration in special education and disability leadership was conferred in 2008 by Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also a cum laude graduate of the University of Richmond’s School of Law, where she received the Orrell-Brown Award for Clinical Excellence from the school’s Children’s Disability Law Clinic.

From 2008 to 2015, Sander was an associate at several Richmond law firms, with a practice focused on education law. During this same period, she was an adjunct faculty member at both Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond.

Dr. , dean of graduate and professional programs, cites Sander’s experience as a lawyer as an aspect of her background that set her apart from other candidates for the job.

“It shows she is an agent for change, and is effective in important settings outside of the classroom,” Cockley says.

Cockley adds that Sander’s 24-year involvement with the Harrisonburg Rescue Squad “indicates how much she understands and values the commitment to a team,” also noting that Sander’s rescue squad experiences have “sensitized her to the realities of how many students live.”

Additional growth projected for restorative justice specialization

Sander assumed her new duties on July 1, succeeding Sarah Armstrong, who died unexpectedly in August 2016. Armstrong had emphasized the role of restorative justice in the MA in Education program’s overall offering, and was instrumental in the launch of a in the discipline.

Sander says that, like her predecessor, she regards restorative justice as an important component of the MA in Education curriculum, and is working to develop an additional course on the topic, which she herself may teach.

Dr. , associate professor of special education, says she is particularly hopeful that Sander’s background working with special-needs students will promote a greater understanding within teacher education of the intersections between restorative justice and special education.

“She’s enthusiastic about supporting new initiatives and seeking creative ways to promote 91����Ƶ programs with area schools and districts,” Evans says. “I look forward to working with Meg as we continue not only to build the restorative justice in education program, but also to develop other creative ways of connecting with local educators.”

Sander herself says that, in all aspects of her life and work, she seeks to be of service to others.

That’s true, she says, when she’s in the back of an ambulance helping a patient, just as it was true when she stood before a classroom of special education students. She now carries that service ethic into her new job leading the MA in Education program at 91����Ƶ.

Sander resides in Harrisonburg with her husband, a flight paramedic, and their five-year-old son.

Sonia Balasch, PhD, assistant professor of Spanish
Balasch earned an MA in Spanish (Hispanic linguistics) and a PhD from the University of New Mexico. Originally from Venezuela, she brings five years of faculty experience teaching Spanish and has most recently been a visiting assistant professor of Spanish at George Mason University.

David Berry, PhD, assistant professor of music
Berry earned a BM from the Eastman School of Music and an MM and DMA from The Julliard School. He brings experience as a solo pianist and chamber musician in a variety of innovative and nationally-recognized touring chamber ensembles.

Ryan Good, PhD, assistant professor of applied social sciences and assistant director of Washington Community Scholars’ Center
Good earned a BA from Goshen College and master’s degrees from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Temple University. Good completed his PhD in planning and public policy from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He has taught at Rutgers and Eastern universities.

Michael Horst, MA, instructor
Michael Horst has worked at 91����Ƶ for many years, and begins this year with a new title. He earned a BS in Psychology and MA in Counseling from 91����Ƶ and is currently a PhD candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at James Madison University.

Ji Eun Kim, PhD, assistant professor of political studies
Kim earned a BA from the Catholic University of Korea, an MA from Seoul National University and a PhD in political science and peace studies from the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests focus on political violence and conflict, transitional justice, post-conflict reconciliation and human rights.

Joohyn Lee, PhD, assistant professor of recreation leadership
Lee earned a BA from the Catholic University of Korea, an MA from Radford University and a PhD in leisure studies from Pennsylvania State University. She has teaching experience in the leisure, recreation and sport industry field at both Florida State University and the University of Florida.

Irma Mahone, PhD, assistant professor of RN-BS Nursing
Mahone earned a BS in nursing from 91����Ƶ and an MS in psychiatric nursing and PhD in nursing from University of Virginia. Mahone’s extensive experience includes case management, individual and group therapy, and emergency intervention along with her psychiatric nursing experience. Mahone was most recently a research assistant professor at the University of Virginia.

Meg Sander, PhD, assistant professor of education and director of MA in Education
Sander earned a BA from Virginia Tech, an MEd from JMU, a JD from the University of Richmond School of Law and a PhD in education from Virginia Commonwealth University. Sander brings teaching experience in special education, law and ethics, and educational foundations. Most recently, she was a research associate at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education.

Kristopher Schmidt, PhD, assistant professor of biology
Schmidt earned a BS from Trinity Western University, an MS from the University of British Columbia and a PhD from Simon Fraser University. Schmidt brings teaching experience mostly recently from Goshen College in biology and also as director of the premedical sciences program.

Ann Smith, PhD, associate professor of nursing
Smith earned a BS in nursing from the University of Virginia and a PhD in community college leadership from Old Dominion University. In addition to experience working as a nurse, Ann brings extensive college teaching and administrative experience, including service as the director of nursing programs at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Andrew Suderman, MT, instructor of theology
Suderman, who came to 91����Ƶ for the spring 2017 semester, earned a BA in philosophy from Canadian Mennonite University and an MT in theological studies from Conrad Grebel University. Suderman anticipates completing a PhD in systematic theology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa this year. He brings international and cross-cultural experience from living in Costa Rica, Bolivia, Columbia, and South Africa.

Ryan Thompson, PhD, assistant professor of psychology
Thompson earned a BA from Berry College and both an MA and PsyD from George Fox University. He has teaching experience as an assistant clinical professor and as a clinical psychologist.

Baylor taught third grade for 23 years, and then first grade for five, at W.H. Keister Elementary School in Harrisonburg. Along the way she supported her husband’s professional growth and parented three children who are now teenagers. With the help of the scholarship, Baylor’s own goals of earning a master’s degree and reading specialist endorsement — and working as a reading specialist at Keister — are about to become reality.

In her new role, Baylor will collaborate with other teachers at various grade levels to help struggling readers. Baylor says her nearly three decades in various classrooms help her see the bigger picture of reading development.

“When children are learning to read, they need different pieces of what we call a reader’s diet. My years in the first- and third-grade classrooms equip me to better understand what children need as they move through the emergent, beginning, transitional and intermediate reading stages,” she said.

Those decades also deepened her appreciation for her ongoing studies. “I bring a ton of experience to my coursework, so it all makes sense,” she said. “I feel like it’s very real.”

Administrators at Keister, including Principal Julie Zook and Assistant Principal Mark Miller, supported Baylor’s scholarship application.

Baylor is “highly respected,” “innovative,” and shows “incredible leadership,” Zook wrote. Miller added that Baylor is a “lifelong learner.”

Those qualities contribute to motivation for a teacher-student who as part of her coursework completed a 60-hour literacy practicum and in the coming year will undertake action research.

“The drive for ongoing professional learning and growth is essential for any teacher,” said Meg Sander, director of 91����Ƶ’s MA in Education program, “but the experience brought by veteran teachers who rise to new challenges — as Angie is doing — can make them especially effective.”

“It’s a good thing to stretch yourself, no matter what your age,” Baylor said.

The Linda Heatwole Bland Literacy Scholarship is awarded annually to a local educator enrolled in graduate studies at 91����Ƶ. A retired , Bland says she learned to value literacy education and the benefits of professional connection while earning a degree in elementary education at 91����Ƶ.

“I was especially thrilled when I learned that Angie Baylor was the recipient of the literacy scholarship,” Bland said, “because she was a teacher with whom I worked in Harrisonburg City Schools. She was an exemplary classroom teacher and will be a wonderful reading specialist and role model for other teachers in her school.”

After graduating in 1964, Bland taught in Ohio and West Virginia before returning to Virginia. She worked in Augusta, Shenandoah and Rockingham county schools, and joined Harrisonburg City Schools as a read­ing supervisor in 1986. She eventually led the division in establishing the English as a Second Language program and piloting the city’s dual-immersion programs until her retirement in 2002.