A peer mediation program at Frost Elementary School has brought a 54 percent reduction in student fights over the past three years and two state awards.

        Ohio's BEST, part of a statewide alliance to improve educational opportunities and results, commended the Springfield Township school for its People Against Violent Environments (PAVE) program.

        The school was one of 31 winners of an Ohio BEST Practice Award and one of six schools to get a Special Achievement 2000 Award this month. Frost received $20,000 to enhance PAVE.

        Frost trains student mediators in grades 3-6, supervised by an adult mediator, to help other students solve their differences. Forty-five students are mediators this year.

        “Our hope is that it's replicated in other places,” said J. Roderick Rice, executive director of Ohio's BEST. “It's proven that it's worked somewhere, so another school can use it to improve what they do.”

        Frost is already working to duplicate the program in other schools. The school helped train mediators at Rex Ralph Elementary last year. This year, Frost takes PAVE to Central Fairmount School and South Middle School.

        PAVE mediators have been in place at Frost since 1996, performing about 400 mediations a year.

        “It's an absolute necessity,“ Principal Bob Kelly said. “Until children learn how to solve problems nonviolently and effectively, they're not going to learn much of anything else.”

        Peer mediation works, he said, because kids help other kids come up with the solutions.

        “It builds leadership skills,” Mr. Kelly said. “The other students appreciate the opportunity not to be under the authority of an adult every time they have a problem.”

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