Changing the Face of Discipline at Athenian

Though fear of Class A violations (defined by the Student Handbook as Athenian’s harshest recourse for a wrongdoing), tardies, and other disciplinary measures is ingrained into the Athenian psyche, the school’s student body is generally unfamiliar with the specifics of our current correctional policy. However, the confusion and taboo around this topic may not be present at Athenian for long. An alternative approach of restorative justice has begun to make its way into administrative conversations in recent months.

A restorative justice policy would stray away from punitive methods and instead create relevant steps that students can learn and grow from. The method focuses on addressing the harms caused by the infractions as well as the wrongdoing itself.

Rather than imposing seemingly arbitrary punishments upon students who face infractions, restorative justice ensures that students are not embarrassed or ridiculed for issues like cultural incompetence, but rather encouraged to recognize their ignorance and work towards a better understanding of the issue.

In his new role as head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice (DEIS) at Athenian, Sanjev deSilva hopes to implement this method into the current disciplinary policy. DeSilva notes that this practice is in no way alien to Athenian’s campus, as the boarding community has already implemented restorative justice into their disciplinary processes.

“Within the boarding community, we've been doing restorative circles for the past two years,” deSilva said. “So when incidents come up that are culturally sensitive, or something that we need to address as an entire community, we have had these restorative circles.”

In his work with restorative justice at other schools, deSilva noticed the positive impact this method can have on the culture of a campus community.

“I've worked at different schools’ systems of discipline, and I've seen how that can transform a community, and help to heal a lot and repair a lot of damage that's done in these incidents, rather than just treating it like just punishment and consequences and moving on,” deSilva said. “It builds trust within the community because people know that when something happens, there's going to be authentic accountability.”

DeSilva believes that this practice could be the first step towards a stronger community at Athenian.

“What it'll do, hopefully, is break down the fallacy of ‘Athenian nice,’” deSilva explained. “A lot of it is smiling, saying the right things to people's faces. But then we go to different groups, and we're having a different conversation. So what it will do, aspirationally, is to make the community feel more authentic in terms of communication and understanding between different individuals and different groups.”

The first hurdle in bringing this progressive method to fruition is passing it by Athenian’s administration. Susie Childs, Dean of Students in the Upper School, is open to the idea of implementing restorative justice on the Athenian campus, and has been an active participant in preliminary conversations regarding the new method of discipline.

“We’re starting to talk to kids that are getting into any sort of trouble about what harm was done, who was the harm done to, how are they going to repair it,” Childs said. “The connective check-ins in all the advisory groups are similar to restorative justice circles that we would do. We’re learning the practice by doing it that way.”

While steps are being taken now, Childs stated that it will still take time to fully implement these new methods at Athenian.

“Next year, we need to do a lot of training with the faculty,” Childs said. “One of the things that would be really great is if some conflict happened in class, the teacher could stop it right there.”

With this prospective new system in the works, Childs has hopes that it will improve the school’s response time when issues arise.

“When you do a restorative justice circle, you can have feedback given right away that they can then react to or act upon,” Childs explained.

Restorative justice seems to be a viable and modern alternative to traditional disciplinary practices. Hopefully, as Athenian makes steps to adopt this policy, a shift to a more empathic and forgiving response to mistakes will become apparent on the school’s campus.