Silver Lake Regional Middle School                       

Peer Mediation at Silver Lake Middle School

A goal at Silver Lake Middle School is to help our students to feel safe and happy.  Conflicts will arise as they do everywhere in life.  The peer mediation program has been developed to help our students resolve everyday conflicts.  The program was developed in 1994 and has been successful in resolving hundreds of situations since then.

Peer mediation is a way of helping people solve conflicts by enabling them to talk to each other.  It involves students trained to listen to those in conflict and help them resolve their problems peacefully.  The people in conflict are called disputants.

The goal of mediation is to help those in conflict reach their own agreement which will be mutually satisfying. We call that a win/win situation.

Mediation is always voluntary and confidential. Mediators take an oath of confidentiality. Once a conflict is referred to the adviser, Mrs. Baker, she meets with those involved asking if they would like to try mediation.  Both parties must agree. Mediation is then set up during the school day where disputants meet with a pair of trained peer mediators to talk about the issues and, hopefully, come to a resolution. If they come to an agreement, it is written down and both parties and mediators sign it.

Any kind of a dispute can be mediated. We have helped to resolve issues such as rumors, lying, fighting, bullying teasing, boyfriend/

 Girlfriend issues.  We do not mediate issues involving drugs or violence.

Mediations have been referred to us by

•         Students in Conflict

•         Other students

•         Administrators

•         Guidance

•         Teachers

•         Parents

•         Even the Police Department

The 12 seventh and eighth grade mediators go through a one week summer training to learn the skills necessary to actively listen and problem solve in order to help resolve conflicts.  The program begins on the first day of school.  Mediators meet each morning in room 365 with Mrs. Baker, the adviser, to set up mediations.