SOUTH PORTLAND – The South Portland School Department is putting new emphasis on getting kids in the door each day, particularly at the high school and kindergarten level, this academic year.

In addition to increasing regular attendance, the high school is also focusing on ways to decrease the number of detentions and suspensions handed down for various infractions, according to Principal Ryan Caron.

One way of accomplishing this is through what Caron called “restorative practices or interventions.” Instead of referring students to the main office for “minor infractions,” he said, teachers are now being encouraged to resolve the problem within the classroom if possible.

Restorative practices encourage a student to take responsibility for the incident or problem behavior and find ways to make it right, with a focus on helping students to fully understand the impact of their action, instead of simply being punished, school officials say.

Building an environment of trust and respect between staff and students is the key to successful implementation of the restorative practices philosophy, according to Caron, who said the benefits include improved behavior and a healthier school overall, which in turn leads to kids wanting to come to school.

Restorative practices have been implemented at the middle school level in South Portland for several years. George Conant, the assistant principal at Mahoney Middle School, said in the past five to six years the school has seen a 60- to 70-percent reduction in traditional detentions. Now, instead of having detentions four days a week, students serve restorative detentions on Friday afternoons only.

“The best thing about restorative practices is that students are asked to reflect on their actions and determine ways to make amends to the people they have harmed,” Conant said. “When punitive consequences are the only response to conflict, it limits the opportunity for reflection on and repairing of the harm done.”

As a specific example of how restorative practices work, Conant said Mahoney had a group of students “who had been having continual problems in school and outside of the school day, (which also) included some negative interaction amongst their families.”

He said the school held a “conflict resolution circle” that included all of the students involved, several family members and a representative from the South Portland Police Department. The format of the circle is that only one person can speak at a time and a series of questions are asked of all the participants.

At the end of the session the participants are asked to agree on a set of rules they are expected to follow, Conant said. If there are any repeat offenders, the group can reconvene and discuss any new concerns.

“This circle was highly successful as the parents heard the truth from each of the student participants and quickly realized that the adults had made some wrong assumptions,” he said. “The best result was that the adults agreed to swap phone numbers and confront the conflict face-to-face with their child, (along with) the other child and (their) parents. I am glad to say that the group never had to reconvene.”

Conant said one of the other things he appreciates about the use of restorative practices is that it is often easier to get at the truth and to the bottom of the actual problem.

He said when using restorative practices there are generally five basic questions used: What happened? What were you thinking of at the time? What have you thought about since? Who has been affected by what you have done and in what way? And, what do you think you need to do to make things right?

“Using these questions is a really effective way of getting students to own their behaviors and openly discuss how to make amends for their behavior,” Conant said. “It is difficult for students to not tell the truth, as they know that the people sitting in the circle were present and know what really happened. Students are willing to participate when they know they will have an opportunity to repair the harm they did without it being solely punitive. This process has proven highly successful, and we seldom see the same students committing the same mistake.”

In his goal of implementing restorative practices and encouraging regular attendance at the high school this fall, Caron has the full support of Superintendent Suzanne Godin, who praised the new effort.

“This increased focus is indicative of our continued commitment to creating a fulfilling school experience for all learners,” she said.

Godin added, “Education is no longer (about) completing the worksheet or learning by reading in a book. Our education (model) is interactive and focused on helping learners develop resiliency and responsibility for their own learning. Reducing suspensions and detentions through the use of restorative practices helps keep students in school and connected to their learning, while (also) helping them to develop responsibility for their behavior.”

According to Attendance Works, a national nonprofit with a mission of advancing student success by reducing chronic absence, improving student attendance is “an essential, cost-effective but often overlooked strategy for ensuring our students are on track to learn and succeed.”

September was National Attendance Month and the South Portland School Department used the information provided by Attendance Works to reach out to the community and spread the word about the importance of regular school attendance.

Nationally, according to Attendance Works, as many as one out of 10 students is chronically absent, meaning they miss 10 percent or more of available school days or nearly a month of school each year.

Caron said that while chronic absence is not a huge problem at South Portland High School, an internal review of available student data has shown that “regular school attendance is directly related to positive academic performance.”

That’s why the new protocols the school has put into place this academic year are specifically designed to support students and get them to school regularly, he said.

Overall, Caron said, “the real change is the level of attention that we are paying to the areas of student attendance and positive behavior interventions. By focusing on these areas we hope to improve student attendance and in turn improve academic performance.”

Caron also believes that building relationships between students and staff is central “to learning, growth and a healthy school climate for everyone. Within the restorative approach, educators use various practices to build a climate of trust, respect and empathy, as a proactive and preventive way of reducing conflict, bullying and aggressive behavior in school,” he said.

“Additionally, restorative rather than punitive approaches to discipline deal more effectively with student misbehavior by encouraging students to be accountable for their actions and by finding ways to make things right with those they have harmed,” Caron added.

He also said that addressing wrongdoing by using restorative practices “empowers students by helping them to learn from their mistakes in an environment that is caring and responsive.”

While it may seem obvious that making school attendance a priority is important to academic success, Caron said it shouldn’t just be an effort of the school department. Parents and guardians also need to understand the consequences of chronic absence, as well.

Since school started last month, Caron said, overall attendance numbers at the high school have improved, but it’s too early to say whether that’s due to the new focus on attendance or the excitement around the fact that the two-year school construction project is nearing completion.

“The new building supports improved student accountability, which could also be a factor,” he said, but, “we will continue to monitor attendance and look forward to analyzing academic performance throughout the year.”

In addition to the work going on at the high school, Godin said the school department is also focused on increasing regular attendance at the kindergarten level, which, she said, actually sees the highest truancy rates.

In order to reinforce the importance of schooling for young children, Godin said the school department has created a new initiative at the elementary schools, called “South Portland Partners for Student Success,” which includes the United Way, the Opportunity Alliance, Spurwink, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, Girl Scouts, the YMCA and Jobs for Maine Graduates.

“At the K-3 level, we targeted 36 students that had 18 or more absences in 2012-2013,” Godin said. “Working with those students and their families, absences were reduced for 17 students, and we are now looking at which interventions are working (the best).”

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A CLOSER LOOK

With studies showing that chronic absenteeism negatively impacts academic performance, the South Portland School Department is putting a new focus on getting kids to school this year, particularly at the high school and K-3 level.

According to data provided by the school department, in the 2011-2012 academic year a total of 370 students system-wide had more than 18 absences from school; in 2012-2013 there were 327 students absent at least 18 times; and in 2013-2014 a total of 308 students were absent 18 days or more.

The majority of the chronically absent students were at the high school and kindergarten level, according to Superintendent Suzanne Godin.

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