HARRISBURG (Feb. 26, 2004) � Attorney General Jerry Pappert and the Pennsylvania Bar Association have announced that 12 schools were selected to attend the fifth annual Project PEACE training conference March 12-13 in Altoona.

Sponsored by Attorney General Jerry Pappert and the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Project PEACE (Peaceful Endings Through Attorneys, Children and Educators) works to reduce conflict and violence in Pennsylvania elementary schools by teaching students how to discuss and mediate disagreements peacefully. Teams of principals, educators, parents, counselors and attorneys representing the 12 elementary schools from across the commonwealth were selected to participate in the Project PEACE training conference through a competitive application process.

During the conference the school teams will be introduced to the peer mediation process through hands-on learning activities. They will receive instruction in such areas as adjudication versus mediation, diffusing conflict situations and the necessary skills of conflict resolution. By the end of the training, the schools will write their own mediation plans, which will be introduced to their local schools. Each school then will select and train its own student mediators.

The Project PEACE training model was developed by the Temple University Beasley School of Law�s LEAP Program. It initially was created for a program in Indiana and has since been modified to meet the needs of Pennsylvania�s schools. Pennsylvania is the second state in the country to offer this type of peer mediation training to elementary schools.

The instructors at the Project PEACE training conference are national experts in mediation within the courts and schools. The trainers include Mary Ellen Schaffer, director of student services, Lamont Il.; Karla Taylor-Temple, a mediation trainer, Indianapolis In.; and David Keller Trevaskis, Pennsylvania Bar Association pro bono coordinator, Harrisburg Pa.

The following schools were selected to attend:

• Alternative Learning Center, Plains
• Carson Valley Elementary School, Flourtown
• Good Shepherd School, Camp Hill
• Loyalsock Valley Elementary School, Montoursville
• Lynwood Elementary School, Hanover Township
• Manchester Academic Charter School, Pittsburgh
• John W. Price Elementary School, Lancaster
• Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School, Philadelphia
• St. Anastasia School, Newtown Square
• St. Monica School, Berwyn
• White Oak Elementary School, White Oak
• Wyoming Valley Montessori School, Kingston