Peace circles, mediation and refocusing. They're tools that teachers are now using in most districts as alternatives to sending students to the principal's office.

It's a shift away from zero-tolerance policies that became the norm after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, which left 13 dead. Those policies had some parents upset when schools suspended students who missed too many days from school or chewed gum in class, or they called the police on children with toy guns.

Researchers say the strict policies were unevenly applied to students of color and served to disengage students from school without looking into why they may have been acting up.

Claire Davis.
Claire Davis. (Provided by Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office)

But years into the changes away from that — Denver Public Schools started about 10 years ago — concerns linger about whether some schools have gone too far the other way, letting students go unpunished for their misbehavior and ready to break the rules again.

"There has been so much progress made in having people rethink these zero-tolerance policies," says Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado. "Not as much progress in making sure we make those changes in ways that are sound."


In a recent report on the 2013 Arapahoe High School shooting, a researcher said the school's hesitation to discipline contributed in part to the escalation of a student's behavior that ended in his bringing a gun to school and killing another student and himself.

Karl Pierson, the shooter, had earlier made a threat that he would kill a teacher, but he was not disciplined specifically for the threat.

"Our people were very struck by the lack of consistent, firm and appropriate consequences for the aggressor's behavior," said Michael Dorn, executive director of the school-safety nonprofit group Safe Havens International. "Our research is very clear: If you have a person and they're pushing those boundaries and keep doing it and there is nothing stopping them, they often do continue down a pathway of violence."

Several cases of school violence across the country started with misbehavior that went ignored by school officials, Dorn and other researchers note.

Leaders for Littleton Public Schools defend the actions of the school administrators following the threat but say they are now focusing on making sure administrators have a full picture of a student's history when they make those decisions.

In the Littleton district, restorative practices started being a focus about seven years ago, mostly as a way to re-engage students after they are disciplined, but the district relies on adults in the schools to follow through.

"We take suspending students very seriously," said Clay Abla, the director of secondary education for Littleton schools. "We don't just want to suspend and then not really work with the students."

In other districts, including Jefferson County, the focus is also on prevention of misbehavior.

"It's about how much more can we do on the front end," said Terry Elliott, chief school effectiveness officer for Jeffco. "If you're kicking a student out of the building, they're not learning."

Jeffco leaders are working on new training for teachers, expected to be ready this spring, to help them learn how to better handle misbehavior inside the classroom, after teachers voiced concerns.

In Denver, teachers have also had concerns.

"When initial policies were changed, many teachers were concerned that disciplinary challenges were simply ignored," said Vicky McRoberts, a union leader, during a recent media call announcing a partnership to study implementation of restorative practices. "We recognize that students need to be in school to get the most from that educational experience, and teachers recognize that suspending or expelling students doesn't necessarily do anything to change the behavior."

But, she adds, "Students need to recognize that there are consequences."

In one Denver school, parent Raul Armas says school administrators last year ignored bullying that his 9-year-old son was enduring, even when the bullying prompted the boy to write a note saying he wanted to kill himself.

"Right now, it seems you get to be mean and you get scolded and that's it," Armas said. "I learned going to my principal will not cure anything."

Leaders say the key to having successful implementation of restorative practices is school leadership, but that variable is also what can make for uneven applications.

A report used as a starting point by the partnership that is studying restorative approaches in Denver also notes that a principal's belief in the practice and commitment to make it work are necessary for success.

Strong principal leadership helps staff members and parents understand and buy into the new approaches to collectively make them work.

"Where there's not a coherence of what are we really using restorative practices for and why, and what are we really using suspensions for and why, we see a lot of frustrations," said Eldridge Greer, executive director of whole-child supports at Denver Public Schools. "The schools that have done great at marrying both of those are doing remarkable things with kids. It takes that intentionality right from the principal."

DPS is now looking at tracking how the experiences of students and parents vary in different parts of the district.

Welner says it will take time for districts to continue a shift in thinking and cautions that bad implementation could cause a pushback that reverses even good reforms.

"People in their mind separate discipline from learning, but the two are tightly linked," Welner said. "The things that are most important in schools are often things that we have to really commit ourselves to do over a long period of time."

Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, or @yeseniarobles