I had a lively email exchange last week, with Daily Post columnist Gary Beatty, about whether Israel’s response to the October 7 attack by Hamas was reasonable, humane, justifiable, and various other issues people might have around a deadly military action in a faraway land.
Of course, in such a debate, we are basing our arguments on media reports from various sources, which are very likely politically biased — written by reporters with personal perspectives about what is factual and what is not factual.
I enjoyed the debate… although to my mind, debates about what is taking place in Pagosa Springs — based on actual personal experiences — are much more meaningful. And real.
One typical ingredient, in a lively exchange, is a difference of opinion. That’s something we have no shortage of, in America, and in the world. And we will always have differences of opinion. We will also have differences of opinion about the proper way to deal with differences of opinion.
Another ingredient — a necessary ingredient, for a lively debate — is a willingness to share your perspective with a person who has a different perspective, plus a willingness to admit that the other person’s perspective is, in some sense, valid and worth considering. That requires a certain level of self-confidence, and a certain level of respect for the other person.
This editorial is not about primarily about the war in Gaza. Nor about the war in Ukraine. Nor any of the thousands of violent conflicts taking place around the world as I write this essay.
The subject is much closer to home… more immediate… and hopefully, more meaningful. And real.
Last week, I had the pleasure to participate, as a member of the Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) Board of Directors, in a four-hour training in ‘Restorative Practices’. Emily Murphy, the Assistant School Director at PPOS, delivered the training. PPOS is a taxpayer-funded charter school authorized by the Archuleta School District as a ‘school of choice’ and open to all Archuleta County families, tuition-free. The school’s mission is to offer an innovative alternative to traditional public education.
The Archuleta School District authorized the school in 2017, and renewed the school’s charter last year.
Disclosure: This editorial reflects only my own thoughts and opinions, and not necessarily the thoughts and opinions of other PPOS Board members, or of the PPOS Board as a whole.
Ms. Murphy wrote an article, a few days ago, about the use of ‘Restorative Practices’ at PPOS; the article was shared in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN and here in the Daily Post.
She wrote:
Restorative Practices adds a layer to PPOS’s discipline policy, allowing individuals to take responsibility for their actions and work toward repairing relationships that were harmed. This is the first step, and allows students to identify solutions to problems with support, in place of being given an unrelated consequence around rule-breaking.
“It’s fun helping kids; and nice to know how to communicate and help others,” said eighth-grader Amelie, who is in her third year as a Restorative Practice Student Board member.
Conflict happens. As humans, our nature — and our need to defend our ‘personal space’, and our ‘possessions’ — drives us to enter into conflicts. Violence, and the threat of violence, are often used to enforce the status quo… or to challenge the status quo.
But humans have developed more peaceful ways to maintain a civilized society. These alternatives to violence are not often used, by the agents responsible for enforcing social boundaries, and that failure to embrace peaceful alternatives may be partly the result of how children are raised.
When I was a child attending school in California in the 1950s, the threat hanging over everyone’s head — when school rules were violated — involved a trip to the Vice Principal’s office, where a wooden paddle hung on the wall. Beyond the threat of pain and suffering, a student could also be suspended from school, or expelled. Corporal punishment was accepted by parents, and also practiced at home, typically.
60 years later, physical violence against children is not a generally accepted practice, in school or at home. But until the moment Governor Jared Polis signed HB23-1191 on April 20, 2023, school employees in Colorado were legally allowed to apply corporal punishment to students. (Students with disabilities were already protected, however. HB23-1191 now protects all students.)
From HB23-1191:
SECTION 1. Legislative declaration. The general assembly finds and declares that when children are in the care of public schools, a state-licensed child care center, a family child care home, or a specialized group facility, they should enjoy the same state protections against corporal punishment that extend to persons in other walks of life. Children are more vulnerable and impressionable than adults, and it is wholly reasonable that our safeguards to protect the integrity and sanctity of their bodies should be at least equal to those safeguards that we afford to other persons…
Legally, school personnel can no longer cause intentional physical pain to children in Colorado.
But we all realize that conflicts will continue to arise in schools. Conflicts between students, conflicts between teachers and students, conflicts between staff members.
How can we best handle these conflicts?
In this editorial series, I will be defining “best” as meaning “most likely to diminish future violations, and most likely to repair any harm caused.”
The central goal, then, is to find ways to diminish the total amount of violence — all forms of violence — over the long haul.
Do Restorative Practices — such as the protocols and methods currently under development at Pagosa Peak Open School — offer us a way out of the ‘cycle of violence’?
Let’s consider that idea.