RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION

SAN JOSE (CALIFORNIA)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH | TRANSFORMING TRADITIONAL CONSEQUENCES INTO MEANINGFUL ACCOUNTABILITY
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH | THE ART & SCIENCE OF CHANGING BEHAVIOR
EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON MILPITAS - SILICON VALLEY | 901 EAST CALAVERAS BOULEVARD | MILPITAS, CA 95035 | (408) 942-0400
WORKSHOP BEGINS - 8:30 AM | ENDS - 3:30 PM (BOTH DAYS)

Workshop Overview

The most significant challenge facing schools today is managing disruptive student behavior. Adding to the challenge is that many states have created laws to limit or ban suspensions, particularly for kindergarten through 3rd-grade students. These laws aim to reduce exclusionary discipline and promote better ways to address behavior issues. Twenty-two states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, and Massachusetts, have specific rules against suspending young students for nonviolent behavior. These policies encourage schools to use restorative practices, behavioral interventions, and support measures instead of suspensions for minor disruptions. Texas, Florida, and Virginia restrict suspensions of primary-level learners for nonviolent behaviors and promote alternative disciplinary methods instead. These measures show that more and more states understand the negative impact of suspending, particularly young children, on their academic success and emotional development.


One of the few things everyone can agree on is that suspension is less effective than it used to be. Kids today are growing up in a different time that isn't comparable to any other past period. A 20th-century approach to 21st-century problems doesn't yield the results we need. Every year, there is something new that is supposed to be the answer to the challenging behaviors we face today. The only constant of these initiatives is that they need to be revised. If we're honest, we must admit they all have some practical qualities. We often approach deep-rooted problems with surface-level thinking in education, leading to surface-level solutions. The workshop provides guidance on developing a behavior management strategy based on the 3 Approaches to Addressing a Problem and the 3 Most Common Approaches to Managing Behavior in Schools.

3 Approaches To Addressing a Problem

The workshop will provide an understanding of the three approaches to campus behavior management: Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression. Understanding these approaches is essential for schools to effectively manage and address behavioral challenges. 

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PREVENTION: Prevention is the best option because the best way to address a problem is to prevent it. The two primary ways to avoid problems on a campus are emphasizing building relationships among all stakeholders and teaching appropriate behavior, especially when the student has yet to learn it. Discipline decision-makers must understand that you can't prevent all issues and that prevention focuses on minimizing problems. During the workshop, we will guide participants through best practices and strategies for effectively supporting teachers and staff to minimize and prevent disruptive behavior from escalating.

INTERVENTION: The goal of intervention is to solve the problem. Restorative Practices, which are alternatives to suspension and PBIS interventions, are strategies implemented to solve the problem. If the aim is to solve the problem or at least control it, discipline decision-makers need to prioritize intervention. During the workshop, we will guide participants in appropriately addressing challenging behavior problems by providing specific alternatives to suspension designed to change behavior while holding students accountable.

SUPPRESSION: Suppression aims to temporarily eliminate the problem. Strategies such as detention and in-school and out-of-school suspension are all forms of suppression intended to do this. Discipline decision-makers sometimes need temporary, immediate solutions to address disruptive student behavior. During the workshop, we'll help you determine when suppressing the problem is appropriate and the best approach to take when necessary.

3 Most Common Approaches To 
Managing Behavior In Schools

The workshop will explore the pros and cons of the three most common approaches to addressing behavior in schools today. If the goal of any behavior management approach is to create an optimal and safe learning environment, schools must develop a behavior management system that integrates Traditional Consequences, PBIS, and Restorative Practices/SEL.

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TRADITIONAL CONSEQUENCES: Most educators agree that traditional consequences, such as out-of-school suspension, are less impactful for students today. There will always be a need in schools for strategies like suspension because there will always be behaviors, particularly safety concerns, that require us to use a strategy such as in-school or out-of-school suspension. The essential concept to remember is that these are strategies that need to be implemented in a manner that will help achieve the goal of correcting the behavior.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS & SUPPORTS (PBIS): PBIS gets a bad rap but has been relatively effective. The systematic approach to establishing structures, such as hallway procedures and voice levels, has positively impacted schools nationwide. The same can be said for the campus-wide PBIS reward system. The combination of a well-implemented PBIS structure and rewards system has consistently yielded 85% of students on the campus meeting behavioral expectations. The challenge is that 10-15% of students create 90% of the behavior challenges on campus, and the PBIS interventions don’t consistently support campuses with those students. PBIS is a practical framework that every campus should adopt, but it is not a one-size-fits-all approach for managing all student behavior.

RESTORATIVE PRACTICES/SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL): Restorative Practices in schools are relatively new. There are challenges in the early stages of anything new, and Restorative Practices are no exception. The greatest challenge is refuting the idea that Restorative Practices should replace traditional consequences and punishment should be eliminated. Punishment is necessary for changing behavior, so traditional consequences will always have a place. The focus should be on incorporating Restorative Practices with traditional consequences rather than replacing them. 

During this two-day workshop, we will work together to delve into these deep-rooted problems with the appropriate depth of thinking, yielding the solutions you need to address the behavior challenges on your campus. We encourage you to join us on both days but feel free to come only on the day that fits your schedule and interests. Please take a moment to review the descriptions of the days below so you can learn what to expect from attending each workshop day. 

Participant Perks

All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion for each day attended and complimentary access to:
  • Access to Alternatives To Suspension Online Resources
  • One-Day Participants - One Course on LTV Academy*
  • Both Day Participants - One Live Q&A Session*

*Participants must fulfill their registration payment before receiving  
  access to the complimentary resources.

Who Should Attend

Principals, assistant principals, deans, restorative practices coordinators, counselors, social workers, behavior interventionists, in-school suspension teachers, teacher leaders, or anyone on the campus who supports behavior are ideal participants for this workshop. 

Cost of Registration

  • FULL REGISTRATION - EARLY BIRD Individual - $375 per person*
  • FULL REGISTRATION - GROUP RATE (2 or more) - $375 per person
  • FULL REGISTRATION - Individual - $450 per person 
  • 1-DAY REGISTRATION - EARLY BIRD Individual - $195 per person*
  • 1-DAY REGISTRATION - GROUP RATE (2 or more) - $195 per person
  • 1-DAY REGISTRATION - Individual - $225 per person

* Early Bird Ends Friday, January 24th at 11:59 pm PST  
All Registrations End Tuesday, February 25th at 11:59 pm PST

Need a Hotel Room?

  • If you need to book a room and would like to receive our Group Rate, please Click Here.
  • Please remember that the group rate is only available for a limited number of rooms, and the last day to book a room at the group rate is Wednesday, February 5th.

DAY ONE - WHAT TO EXPECT

Transforming Traditional Consequences
Into Meaningful Accountability 

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It's unrealistic and counterproductive to remove traditional consequences, such as suspension and forms of detention, from schools altogether. The issue isn't whether they should exist but how to make them effective when necessary. When a student's behavior jeopardizes the integrity of the learning environment, the student needs to be removed from the learning environment temporarily. With that said, removing disruptive students from the learning environment is a short-term, surface-level solution that, in many cases, perpetuates deeper problems. It makes us feel that "we did something" to address the behavior, but it often leads to further frustration once the students return to the learning environment. Many disruptive students' behaviors rarely change because we seldom focus on working to change their behavior. We assume that the suspension alone will change their behavior, but the only way to change it is to identify the root causes and actively work on it. The good news is that many of our current traditional consequences naturally provide structures that allow us to work on challenging student behavior. Still, we must reimagine how these traditional consequences are structured and implemented for better outcomes.

Day 1 of the workshop will provide participants with:

  • ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION  - The workshop will provide specific alternatives to suspension, such as Structured Day, that effectively minimize the need to remove students from the learning environment while still holding them accountable.


  • HIGHLY EFFECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY - The workshop will provide a framework for creating highly effective accountability designed to change adverse behavior while maintaining the structure of some traditional consequences.


  • REIMAGINING IN-SCHOOL SUSPENSION & DETENTION - The workshop will guide how in-school suspension and detention should be modified to strategically work to change the underlying behaviors while minimizing the time students are removed from the learning environment.

DAY TWO - WHAT TO EXPECT

The Art & Science of Changing Behavior 

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When making discipline decisions, our primary goal is for students to change their behavior. Unfortunately, many students still need to improve their behavior after facing the traditional consequences assigned to them. For at least a decade, results remain consistent whether students are suspended in-school or out-of-school, whether one or ten days. The students return to school and exhibit the same disruptive behaviors, resulting in suspension. Effective behavior changes require intentionality, persistence, and patience, which are often difficult to achieve. Assigning consequences without the intentionality of creating an environment that encourages behavioral change in the student leads to more frustration instead of solutions. 

Day 2 of the workshop will provide participants with:

  • HOW TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR - The workshop will help participants understand the approach required to effectively and consistently change adverse student behavior.


  • ASSESSING ACCOUNTABILITY – The workshop will provide guidance and strategies, such as Accountability Projects, for requiring students to prove they understand the impact of their behavior.


  • PARTNERING WITH PARENTS - The workshop will provide specific guidance and strategies that encourage parents to participate in the accountability process by partnering with parents.

MEET THE TRAINER

Kelvin Oliver

Kelvin Oliver is an educational consultant specializing in supporting schools by developing and implementing behavior management systems that synergize restorative practices, PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), and traditional consequences. As a campus administrator, he was instrumental in supporting the integration of Restorative Practices with PBIS and Traditional Consequences. Kelvin created a campus-based support model with weekly professional development and an implementation support team. In 2007, Kelvin started his career in Texas as a special education teacher before transitioning to general education as a sixth-grade math teacher. He transitioned to campus math specialist and district curriculum specialist before becoming an assistant principal and later campus principal. 

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Since 2017, Kelvin has been a consultant supporting educators, schools, and districts nationwide. In his journey as a consultant, he has had the opportunity to train educators in 49 states. He has worked directly with school districts in states such as Alabama, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington, to name a few. International educators from as far as New Zealand have traveled to attend his workshops. Kelvin has extensive experience in working with various types of schools. He’s worked with medium to large urban school districts, small rural school districts, charter schools, private schools, and Native American reservations, as well as educators supporting students at state schools for deaf students. Kelvin is renowned for communicating the complexities of student behavior in schools today in a digestible way while providing concrete strategies to address challenging behavior. Currently based out of Washington, D.C., he continues to work year-round with educators, schools, and districts in all regions of the country.

Frequently Asked Questions

Registration Form

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