
BHS Peer Mediators Present at Education Justice Coalition: Peer Mediators at BHS have been trained in Restorative Practices and are working to make BSD a safer and healthier community. Victoria Tornwini, Esther Lokossou, and Lincoln Safron proudly presented on Saturday, April 14th at the Education Justice Coalition Conference in front of over 25 Vermont educators, community partners, and activists. Peer Mediation is a new program running at EMS and BHS and it involves training youth in RP in order to provide youth circle keepers to help repair low-level harms at school. The BHS peer mediators meet every Wednesday during lunch and advisory and are eager to try their skills out so please do reach out if you would like to recommend a case for them to try. They also have created restorative circle templates on graffiti, skipping class, vaping, and more! Take a look at their presentation materials here.
Peer Mediation at dtBHS: Memo to BHS Staff
Good afternoon! This is written on behalf of the youth peer mediators. We kindly ask for your assistance in our mission to make BHS a safer place for students and teachers. Through peer mediation, we hope to create a safe and cultivating environment for students who may feel unable to speak with teachers and or support one on one immediately following an altercation. For those who have questions about our efforts please let us know. If you would like to request a peer mediated restorative circle for one of your students, please reach out. Thank you!
What is peer mediation? Peer mediation is when trained youth facilitators support their peers in building and maintaining healthy relationships, navigating conflicts, and repairing harm to each other or the school community at large. At BHS, peer mediators are trained in Restorative Practices and utilize a variety of restorative approaches, including community building circles, relationship building games, restorative conversations, solution stations, and harm or repair circles.
How are cases referred to peer mediators? A group of staff and administrators will assign cases to peer mediators whenever there is an opportunity for them to be involved and there is not a conflict of interest or an imminent time constraint. The main types of cases that may be assigned to peer mediators include the following: fights, interpersonal conflict, friend group drama that’s not HHB related, vandalism, and skipping class. Peer mediators will support classrooms with community building circles and games in cases where teachers request support with strengthening relationships in their classrooms.
When does peer mediation happen? School staff will work to find times to mediate that are least disruptive to class schedules. Training will occur during school hours and mediation will primarily occur during advisory, choice time, and flex time, when students have overlapping study halls, or before and after school for processes that require more time.
Peer Mediation Resources:
BHS Peer Mediation at Ed Justice Coalition Conference Presentation
EMS RJ Community Mediation Script
Rootedness: Seven Core Assumptions Narrative
RP Activities:
Build the House Activity Introduction to Te Whare Tape Wha framework for understanding human needs
Needs and Feelings Iceberg To understand how unmet needs often leads to harmful behavior
Curiosity did not Harm the Cat Activity To practice asking good questions and active listening
What Happened? Activity To help orient students to the first question in the restorative approach