This month we have our spotlight on Anne Marie McFadyen. In her restorative justice work with New York Peace Institute, Anne Marie has been dismayed by the continuing ‘pushout’ culture that feeds the school to prison pipeline. Having led restorative reform initiatives at two public high schools and provided coaching and training to many others, she wondered why restorative interventions did not have a sustainable impact on school climate. Students from minority groups or with special needs continued to be suspended one day and incarcerated the next. Four years down the track, she realizes that to transform culture in the challenging and dynamic climate of a school environment, requires leadership that is resilient and robust. And this is not where the restorative investment has been.

Anne Marie decided she would be more intentional in her restorative practice and offer team leadership coaching to drive cultural change. Last year she commenced leadership coaching with a senior management team at a school in Harlem. She used the 6 Conditions and Team Diagnostic Survey to help the team recommit to their compelling vision, fit roles and decision-making more to purpose and reset norms in ways of working so they are closely aligned to the school’s restorative mission.

Four workshops later, the senior management team is on the way to creating a much stronger foundation for the school. Anne Marie is convinced that restorative reform in the education sector can only happen if we transform leadership teams.

She witnessed students take up leadership as student leaders instinctively created a restorative circle in the undercroft of the high school to protest gun violence on National Walk Out Day. As the kids spilled out the main door, they stopped abruptly, instantly quieted by the solemnity before them. Any plans to run amok were put aside. Instead they were compelled to join their community. The circle got bigger and bigger. One by one, the young people took turns in the middle of the circle, sharing stories about how gun violence terrorizes their everyday lives. This is what restorative leadership looks like.