King County high school begins year with anti-violence workshops

Early in the morning on the second day of school, 25 ninth graders wandered into a classroom at Evergreen High School in the Highline district and sat quietly, unsure of what would happen next.

For two days they would be participating in an anti-violence workshop provided by The Alternatives for Violence Project, or AVP, a program that helps people deal with potentially violent situations in creative ways. 

Since the pandemic, educators say, student behavior has gotten worse — kids are less capable of regulating their emotions and communicating with their peers. The result? An uptick in violent incidents in schools across the country. 

That’s why the Highline School District invested $72,000 in an anti-violence workshop, hoping to teach students how to solve conflicts without resorting to violence. It’s one of the only multiday efforts dedicated to reducing violence in schools that was offered this fall in the Seattle area.

“It’s an investment in helping to keep the campus safe,” said Catherine Carbone Rogers, a spokesperson for the district. “Other school districts have tried things like metal detectors and increased security guards and external factors. The philosophy here is really addressing safety from the inside out.”

In Washington, during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, educators reported an increase in behavior that resulted in discipline, but then a slight decline as students adjusted to being in the classroom, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Teachers from Highline — a diverse district where students speak 89 different languages — attended an AVP workshop earlier this year and were inspired to bring it to their students.

The project was started in 1975 by a group of people in a New York prison. Deemed a success, it was soon offered in prisons across the country, as well as in schools, business, churches and shelters in more than 50 countries.

Two Seattle-area schools have taught it: Seattle Urban Academy and ReLife School near Tacoma. 

This fall about 100 staff members and 300 ninth graders at Evergreen participated, and the following week, all 91 students and 20 staff at Innovation Heights Academy (formerly New Start High School) participated. 

“It was a monumental undertaking,” said Roger Kluck, the director of Projects for a Civil Society, the local chapter of AVP. “A couple kids in my group told me this was their first day of school in the U.S. So aside from the usual ninth grade, new kids, new school reticence to speak out, we had kids who were in a whole new country, culture, society.”

The workshop included games and activities that helped students build self-confidence, connect with each other and brainstorm on topics like how to be an active listener, how to stop bullying at their school and understanding the underlying causes of violence.

“What we’ve felt more than anything is the trauma of being isolated,” said Simón Iñiguez, the principal of Evergreen High. “I think that’s what AVP really tries to get at. When was the last time you ever talked to somebody for three minutes straight asking, ‘What do you love about yourself?’ ”

These intimate conversations “typically never happen in schools,” except informally, he added. 

One of the district’s goals is to build a culture of belonging where everyone feels safe, valued and welcome.

Iñiguez frequently says the school is “trying to humanize space,” and teachers say it isn’t just a platitude. 

“How radical it is for us to just be in dialogue with each other, no phones, just looking at each other, listening one at a time,” Evergreen teacher Naomi True said. “This is what we missed in those formative years with students” during the pandemic.

A name game

The day began with three workshop facilitators giving themselves descriptive nicknames: “Joyful” June, “Caring” Clinton, “Resourceful” Romano. They asked each student to do the same.

It’s a frequently used trick to help a big group of people remember names, but it also underscored two workshop themes: building a stronger connection to yourself and seeing the best in other people.

As they went around the circle, some students didn’t want to share their name, much less an adjective to describe themselves. Some kept their heads down. Some wouldn’t speak at all. 

Most of the students had never met before and wouldn’t be sharing the same classes. One student explained why she found the exercise awkward: “I feel like a lot of people are embarrassed to talk. It’s also too long. I also want to get to know the people in my classes.”

True applauded the decision to bring together students who wouldn’t normally meet.

“When I think about the worst fights or conflicts in the past couple of years, it’s been a friend group from one kind of cohort, versus a friend group from another cohort and they don’t have classes together,” True said.

Anything can become a conflict, she said, when there’s no common ground.

True said it’s common for students to hesitate to share their names, and is part of the social anxiety she sees in students every day. 

“If you can never feel comfortable asking what is your name, you’re never going to know this person’s name,” Ture said. “And how can we even have a dialogue if we don’t even have that?”

Small questions lead to big ones

First in pairs and then in small groups, students were asked to share details of their lives.

A facilitator posed this query: Name “something I’ve learned in my life that is important to me.” 

“Visiting relatives,” one student replied.

“Something I’ve done that I’m proud of?”

“Catching a fish,” another student said. 

Later in the day: “What do you like about yourself?”

Students fidgeted in chairs, not knowing what to say.

Facilitator Clinton Larry, who was exposed to drug addiction as a child and served time in prison, said people internalize what others tell them about who they are.

Sometimes violent tendencies can stem from feeling misunderstood, Larry said. If students practice talking about what they know and like about themselves, it can help them tune out what others think.

Addiction to cellphones is another big issue for students at Evergreen, said Iñiguez, the principal. 

“It’s not just the physical harm that happens — when you are isolating yourself using devices, that also causes harm, you aren’t able to connect with people,” Iñiguez said. 

At one point during the workshop, all the students in Larry’s group were staring at their phones. Larry asked the kids to open up their music playlists and share their top five songs.

“Most of them had songs relatable to each other,” Larry said. “That created the conversation. That’s all we are trying to do, is find a way to understand that it’s OK to be different. It’s OK to ask for help. It’s OK to figure out stuff. And it’s OK to be wrong.” 

How to stop bullying

Facilitators asked students what comes to mind when they think of the word “violence,” how to be an active listener and how they might stop bullying if they see it in school.

“If my friend is getting punched, I’m going to punch the other guy,” said one student. 

The facilitator stepped in. “How could you not use violence?”

“Separate them,” the student quickly responded. 

Students also shared how they know someone is listening to them and what it feels like.

“If someone doesn’t feel heard, they could resort to violence or feel the need to do something to get louder, to get attention,” said Sally Soran, the paraeducator in the room. 

By the end of the second day, students formed a circle without being prompted by facilitators. They nudged each other to scoot over, making room for everyone, True said. 

It was a marked difference from the first day. 

“I did notice a small but meaningful culture shift,” True said. “When you think about what is possible from one day to the next, it makes me think about a whole year of AVP activities and techniques integrated throughout the class.”