By Zach Foley, UVM BS/MSW student
Since starting my internship with UP for Learning, I’ve been curious about how restorative practices show up in school systems in relation to how relationships and power are held and how schools can take them beyond a set of strategies. My interest in relational approaches that bridge, instead of the more punitive impact, is grounded in my own experiences as a student which made me specifically excited to work with youth and staff at Vergennes Union High School (VUHS). Their commitment to youth-adult partnership was apparent from the very first retreat with a huge attendance of both youth and staff.
During our first retreat, we dove into defining what youth-adult partnership looks like in practice and how schools build the skill, capacity, and motivation to sustain complex systems change work. One of the most striking aspects I saw at this first retreat was the staff’s devotion to healing the VUHS community not only for students but also for themselves as educators. Similarly, students at VUHS expanded their views of the teacher perspective and started to recognize a shared humanity with their teachers.
As I continued to develop my own facilitation skills, I witnessed the impact of holding the same learning activity with the youth and adults. A powerful moment was seeing how the project’s design allowed for a complete arc for student leadership. Students met in the morning to practice new facilitation skills which then flowed into an early release day where they stayed after to co-design and co-facilitate staff professional development with their teachers. Each group shared how meaningful it is to connect around their lives in a space that wasn’t focused on the classroom and how these activities helped disrupt traditional power dynamics by creating more room for shared vulnerability and trust. I heard from so many adults and students how important it felt for them to have the time to hear about their lives in a container that wasn’t the classroom and how these activities built community.
In the next retreat, reflecting the initial survey data back to the group sparked some impactful conversations about perception, power and decision making. What was beautiful was how similar the staff and youth feel about their commitment to their unity and togetherness. Although students initially believed teachers held the most power through influence over curriculum and rules, much of the staff shared that they felt they had limited abilities within the system as well. This realization breached deeper conversations about restorative practices. This led to learning more about restorative definitions and how to build more equitable relationships while directly discussing what places students and staff could step into a shared and collaborative decision-making partnership.
The impact of these spaces was felt strongly by students. As one ninth grader, Liza shared, “I want to make sure the school is a place that everyone wants to come to. Being a part of this work made me start coming to school more, because I felt like I was helping create a better environment for everyone.”
As this work continues, the VUHS team is moving toward identifying the areas where youth and adults can collaborate on decisions that impact school culture and community. Students have already started to notice how this shift is showing up in classrooms. As Cady, a ninth-grade
student reflected, “We’re seeing the teachers take our feedback and actually use it in their classes.” I’m excited to see how these conversations continue to evolve and how the students’ leadership, attention and insight will articulate the next steps of Vergennes youth-adult partnership.
