Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Peer Mediation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District promotes peer mediation; Volunteers of America to support training and college credit pathway
Summary
The board heard a presentation on expanding a peer mediation program to all district high schools in partnership with Access Project and the Volunteers of America Dispute Resolution Center; students said mediations have helped avoid suspensions and improve school culture, and VOA offered training support and scholarship opportunities tied to Everett Community College credits.
Assistant Superintendent Greg Schwab introduced an overview of an expanded peer mediation effort that the district plans to implement across its high schools.
Wally Webster of the Access Project described the program’s genesis as a community response to youth homicides and said the peer mediation model aims to give students tools to address conflict before it escalates. Webster said the district has worked with the Volunteers of America Dispute Resolution Center to provide mediator training to students at no cost to the district.
Rick Shantrop of the Volunteers of America described an eight‑stage mediation process used in training that emphasizes active listening, reframing, identifying needs, managing power imbalances, confidentiality and de‑escalation techniques. He said VOA will provide advisor check‑ins, a learning library for mediators, and free basic mediation training that also carries continuing‑education credit for staff.
Students from Lindwood High School who serve as peer mediators described real cases where mediation preserved friendships and removed students from the formal disciplinary pipeline. "During our mediations, we're really saving friendships, and we're preventing people from going through the disciplinary process," Sage Purcell said.
The program also includes an incentive and certification pathway: VOA plans to offer scholarships for mediators who wish to become certified mediators, and the organization has partnered with Everett Community College so certified students can receive 15 free college credits, presenters said.
Cost and value were discussed: Webster said the program is inexpensive to run relative to potential community costs and cited a figure presented at a seminar that a single homicide imposes an estimated $2,100,000 cost on taxpayers from incident through incarceration; he used that figure to argue the program’s preventive value.
Board members expressed strong support and asked about sustainability and plans to refresh mediator rosters as students graduate. Presenters said they plan recurring training at the start of the school year and midyear sessions, incentives that accumulate from ninth through twelfth grade, and student recruitment so peer mediators help sustain the program.
Next steps: presenters said they hope to expand the program in the 2026–27 school year, to continue VOA support, and to finalize incentives for continuing mediators.
