From schools to family court, combating chronic absenteeism with restorative practices
William Brown is a current IIRP student pursuing the Graduate Certificate in Restorative Practices. William serves as superintendent of Allegan Area Educational Service Agency in Allegan, Michigan, a county-wide school system within the state. The school system supports eight local school districts serving more than 13,500 students and 800 staff. It operates a Career in Technical Education (CTE) Center, an Early College program, and a special education center-based program. William joined us at the 2023 IIRP World Conference in Detroit and began his graduate education soon after. He is bringing back his insights to his local school system and expanding the use of restorative practices among the staff and students.
Q: What brought you to the IIRP?
A: I attended the 2023 IIRP World Conference, Building Thriving Communities: A Radical Approach Through Restorative Practices, in Detroit due to my interest in restorative practices. After the first day, I met with a member of the IIRP’s Student Services and decided to begin the Graduate Certificate in Restorative Practices program.
Q: Please tell us about your professional work now and what makes you passionate about it.
A: I have witnessed the power of restorative practices. I have taken on the role of the executive sponsor of this work in my school district and ultimately my county of residence. I am working toward establishing a more restorative workplace culture and introducing restorative practices on a broad level through our county-wide safe schools network. Currently, I am supporting the implementation of restorative practices into a county-wide chronic absenteeism prevention system that partners with community agencies and our local family court system.
Q: What would you like to see happen in the future of this work?
A: My goal is to see restorative practices effectively implemented throughout K-12 and in areas of the family court system in my county. I would like to see restorative practices used in the family court system in cases involving custody and visitation plans due to divorce, as well as in diversion programs for first-time offenders. To support this goal, our school system is partnering with the local family court system to implement a Multi-Tiered System of Supports Chronic Absenteeism Blueprint that incorporates restorative practices as part of tier two. During tier two, community agencies, such as community mental health, will provide family support and intervention to prevent court petitions for chronic student absenteeism.
