Presidential Statement

     I want to share my excitement about the direction of the Education Section.   As an educator, my passion in the field of conflict resolution truly lies in peer mediation training and coaching students and staff to use appropriate conflict resolution skills.  The question is how do we accomplish this monumental task?  Some of the keys to educating students and educators include providing peer mediation training using the standards established by the Education Section, sharing research findings in the field of conflict education with schools, establishing more regional conferences, and encouraging youth participation and membership in the Education Section.  Accomplishing these goals will require a lot of hard work, but I believe we can rise to the challenge!

            The education section hosted a variety of innovative presentations at the 8^th Annual ACR Conference in Austin Texas, September 24-27, 2008.

      My special thanks goes to our Peer Mediation Standards Committee and the work they accomplished on the Peer Mediation Standards.  Also, I must recognize Tahjae Gaynor and Ruth Lusby for their work on a successful Youth Day Conference in Phoenix.  I would like to personally thank Anne Smiley and Marsha Blakeway for their hard work in making the Fairfax Regional Conference in March 2008 a success. Last, but not least, I especially look forward to working with the Ed Heads this year and having many productive conversations through our monthly teleconferences.

     I would be remiss if I did not address some of the challenges facing our section.   These challenges include disseminating the peer mediation standards to schools and trainers throughout our nation and supporting the training of youth.  In addition, we must continue to encourage membership in our section.  Even though we face many obstacles, I believe the Education Section is on the verge of accomplishing some great achievements in the field of education and I am very privileged to be your chair.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Morton, Ed.S., LPC, NCC