Nope! But we are at a stage where it makes sense to assemble a Leadership Team for Circle practices at the Curley and it’s not too late to get involved. Here is a recap of what has happened and how you can help shape our community.
A small but committed parent group has now gotten feedback from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers and school guidance counselor, Sue Trotz on past Circle practices at the Curley. We’ve heard from a recent Curley graduate about his transformative experience with Circles as a student and we’ve also heard from a number of community partners who are interested in supporting our efforts including Northeastern University and Suffolk Law. At our last meeting, we were joined by Saroeum Phoung, once a Cambodian gangster living in Revere and current CEO of PointOneNorth Consulting who is interested in sharing his extensive knowledge of peacekeeping circles with the Curley.
If you are committed to bringing a genuine restorative discipline practice to our school, looking honestly at what divides our community, and creating a sustainable network of community partners interested in the social and emotional wellbeing of our entire Curley family then join us for a three day peacekeeping circle training on April 11th-13th. The training has the potential to change your own life, our school, and wider community.
A brief bio for Saroeum Phoung can be found here:
As well as a longer Boston Phoenix article from 2000 describing Phoung’s work with Roca Revere:
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/features/00/07/06/saroeum_phoung.html
Contact Curley teacher, Linda Solomon (lsolomonkey@bostonpublicschools.org) or parent, Dana Willeke (dwilleke@gmail.com) for more information about the upcoming training and becoming part of the parents, staff, teachers, and students working to bring Circle practices back into our school.
Introductory Circle Training
April 11th, 12th, 13th (Fri-Sun)
9 AM – 5 PM
Location:
Julia Martin House (right of Stop & Shop on Centre St. near Jackston Sq. T station)
90 Bickford Street,
Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130
Details:
Peacemaking Circles workshop, learn about a process that celebrates our individual and collective experiences as a means to learn and create solutions. It has been used in several communities and companies to create an open, safe environment for making decisions, managing conflict, working through disagreements and creating a healthy work culture. Get training from an expert in the Circle Process, Saroeum Phoung. Saroeum has extensive experience in training and facilitating group dialogue on a national level for over 14 years. He has worked with the faith community, nonprofits, large corporations, criminal justice system, law enforcement and the Native American community. In doing this work, Saroeum honors the Tagish Tlingit people.
