ADRHub Webinar - Mediation in Schools: Listening, Resolving, Empowering

Presented by Anastasia Watson Smith & Barbara Sugarman Grochal

The presenters will review three types of mediation in the school setting: peer mediation, attendance mediation, and mediation available to adults dealing with school conflicts. The conversation will explore what each mediation looks like, why they can be successful in schools, and what resources are necessary to make the program successful. Universal principals, appropriate models and best practices will be discussed.

The program the presenters will draw experiences from for this webinar is supported by The Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland (C-DRUM). C-DRUM is an innovator in implementing conflict res

olution programs in schools. C-DRUM is celebrating eleven years of supporting public elementary, middle, and high schools in creating safer and more peaceful schools through its Maryland Schools Conflict Resolution Grants program, a partnership with the Maryland Judiciary’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Grants Office (MACRO) and the Maryland State Department Education. In 2007 C-DRUM implemented its attendance mediation program in several Baltimore City public schools, and now supports the expansion of that program throughout Maryland in collaboration with Community Mediation Maryland and local community mediation centers. C-DRUM’s wor

k in attendance has been supported by the Charles Crane Family Foundation, the Maryland Governor’s Office on Crime Control and Prevention, and the JAMS Foundation.

Presenter Bios:

Anastasia (Stacy) Watson Smith, JD, is the Director, Special Projects at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law Center for Dispute Resolution. She joined C-DRUM in 2007 and implemented and coordinated C-DRUM’s attendance mediation program for several years. She now provides technical assistance and training in the expansion of that program into additional Maryland jurisdictions with support from the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and JAMS. Ms. Smith also assists the UM Carey School of Law Mediation Clinic, providing training and supervision in various practice settings. For C-DRUM, Ms. Smith contributes to the various trainings and facilitations provided by the Center, and she has offered training on mediation skills, including effective communication, understanding conflict, effective listening, confidentiality and ethics, and provides advanced training in attendance mediation.

Ms. Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Economics and received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. As an attorney she practiced for several years in the areas of corporate, health care and higher education law before receiving her training as a mediator and a settlement conference facilitator in 2004. She has also received advanced training in facilitation and restorative dialogues. Ms. Smith is a member of the Maryland Bar and the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence. In addition to truancy mediation, Ms. Smith mediates regularly for Baltimore City District Court in contract, small claims and landlord/tenant matters, and for the Maryland Commission on Human Relations in employment and discrimination matters.

Barbara Sugarman Grochal, M.A.T., M.B.A. and C.P.C.C. (Certified Professional Co-active Coach), brings a diverse background in education, business and co-active coaching to her work in ADR. Director of the Schools Conflict Resolution Education Programs at C-DRUM, Ms. Grochal directs a statewide grants program for public schools in Maryland, assisting a wide range of schools in the development of conflict resolution programs for students, staff and parents. The focus of this work includes mediation, restorative practices, bullying prevention and conflict management strategies and approaches. In her support of the school programs, she develops and conducts trainings for teachers and staff, students and parents, and builds networks to support conflict resolution education resources for schools on a state and national level. She also manages a listserv designed to provide conflict resolution education resources to educators throughout Maryland as well as nationally. Ms. Grochal has also served as a critiquer for numerous MICPEL, and University of Maryland School of Law basic mediation trainings for law students, lawyers, judges and masters.

In 2006, she was instrumental in the establishment of a truancy mediation program for Baltimore City Schools, BSMART (Baltimore Schools: Mediations About Reducing Truancy). In addition, Ms. Grochal conducts parenting workshops in Baltimore City schools, aimed at helping parents build stronger connections with their children.

She has served on numerous Maryland committees to promote safer schools, including the Safe Schools Action Committee, the Model Anti-Bullying Workgroup that developed the Maryland Model Policy, the Planning Committee on Bullying Prevention, the Best Practices in Discipline Workgroup, and the Maryland Peer Helper’s Conference. Ms. Grochal has varied experience facilitating conferences and dialogues. She facilitates community conferences in Baltimore County, a service currently made available through the Conflict Resolution Center of Baltimore County. Community conferencing is a restorative practices tool used for resolving conflicts that occur in communities and sometimes in schools, providing an opportunity outside of the judicial system for the parties, their supporters, and key community members to reach agreements regarding offenders “repairing the harm” done. She has also facilitated a range of discussions in schools and communities designed to resolve conflicts among collaborating partners. As a volunteer, Ms. Grochal brings facilitation to a Baltimore women’s homeless shelter, My Sister’s Place, in the form of motivational circles. A trained and certified professional and life coach, Ms. Grochal also works with a variety of coaching clients privately. Her client base includes business, education and non-profit leaders, 20’s graduates seeking career opportunities, and mid-life adults working to re-invent themselves in an effort to find greater fulfillment. Ms. Grochal graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in English and History, and an M.A.T. in Teaching English. She completed an M.B.A. in Management and Finance at Loyola College in Maryland.