Restorative Lunch Groups: Replacing Suspension with Skill-Building

The Problem

Office discipline referrals were climbing every month, and out-of-school suspensions were removing students from learning for days at a time. The same 25 students accounted for over 60% of all referrals. Repeated consequences were not changing behavior — they were just creating a cycle of exclusion. Staff morale was suffering as teachers felt unsupported, and the school climate survey showed declining scores in both student belonging and staff confidence in the discipline system.

The Plan

1. 1
   Offer groups as an alternative to traditional consequences

   Students referred for non-violent incidents join groups of 4-6 during lunch, three times weekly.

   Groups Events See example

   Elmer Suite → Groups

   Intervention Group

   Marcus T. Aaliyah R. Devon K. Sophia L.

   Create groups, assign students, track progress per group.

2. 2
   Structured sessions: check-in, discuss, build skills, commit

   Each session follows the same format: circle check-in, impact discussion, skill-building activity, closing commitment.

   30 min/session
3. 3
   Track ODRs and repeat offender rates weekly

   Monitor whether referrals are actually decreasing. Adjust group composition every 2-week cycle.

   Events Data Wall Factors See example

   Elmer Suite → Events

   Outreach logged

   Family contacted. Notes recorded for team visibility.

   Today · 10:30 AM

   Status updated

   Student returned. Moved to monitoring.

   Yesterday

   All events visible to the team. No meetings needed to stay in sync.

The Team

The school counselor led the initiative with support from the assistant principal and two teachers who volunteered to facilitate lunch groups. A community partner provided training in restorative practices.

Related Strategies

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