Restorative Justice in Schools with Nathan Maynard and Luke Roberts

This is Season 4, Episode 14 of FocusED, and it features our guests, Nathan Maynard and Luke Roberts. It was originally recorded live for a live audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Nathan and Luke say about restorative justice, school discipline practices, social and emotional learning, school leadership…and so much more.

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Nathan Maynard and Luke Roberts Bring Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Nathan Maynard is a renowned global leader in discipline and restorative practices. He has over 15 years experience as a facilitator of the work throughout juvenile justice and educational settings.

He co-authored the Washington Post bestseller Hacking School Discipline, which is now an international bestseller in 21 countries. He was awarded as “Youth Worker of the Year” in Indiana. Nathan also is the Co-Founder of Highfive--international restorative practices training group and the first restorative behavior support software for schools.

His passion for restorative practices has helped in addressing issues of bullying, cyberbullying, and older peer coercion. His work was noticed by the Metropolitan Police, and he was asked to help Police Officers become more empathetic to young people.

Dr. Luke joined High Five (with Nathan) in 2022 where he brings his passion of championing young people's voices and experiences with the power to change the system. As Chief Innovation Officer, he finds engaging and exciting ways to equip children with conflict resolution skills as well as future developments for High Five.

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FocusED Show Notes with Nathan Maynard and Luke Roberts

Nathan started with his definition of restorative practices. Joe underscored the relational aspect of the definition.

Luke emphasized the process. “If everything is restorative, nothing is restorative.” His question: are we repairing a relationship or building one from scratch?

Nathan talked about how kids these days don’t respond to fear because they’re just not scared of adults like they used to be.

Luke brings up a great point: we start with students as “the offender” when we talk about behavior. They’re still students.

TJ asked a hard question about students and guns in schools. Nathan passes it to Luke, lovingly of course. Luke shifted the conversation from “fear” to “embarrassment.” Students need to claim power by coping with embarrassment…something to help them feel confident.

Nathan pushed us to reflect about whether or not students are feeling ostracized and whether or not the school and the adults in it are compounding the problem.

Don’t miss what Nathan says about our role in not glamorizing behaviors.

One question that comes from the conversation is about the quality of our relationships in schools. What’s the quality of my relationship with [insert a misbehaving student’s name]?

Luke talked about confirmation bias. Sometimes we look for the things we’ve heard about kids. Story’s matter.

We asked Luke about his interviews with students. Here’s what they say:

Am I being treated fairly?

Are the adults genuinely caring? Do they care about me? Did they give me time?

Luke talked about the difference between the content of an experience and the quality of it.

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