For Immediate Release
	CONTACT: Dee Runaas State Bar of Wisconsin (800) 444-9404, ext. 6191

Program to reduce youth violence comes to Madison

August 8, 2000 - Nearly 100 teachers and other representatives from 20 different elementary schools in Wisconsin, including Country View Elementary in Verona, will gather in Madison for the kickoff luncheon to the PEACE program Wednesday, August 9.

The luncheon will be held at noon at the Concourse Hotel, with remarks from Attorney General James Doyle, State Bar President-elect Gerry Mowris, Assistant Attorney General Barbara Oswald, and a keynote address by Edward Holmes, Principal of James C. Wright Middle School in Madison.

The luncheon begins an extensive training session for the school representatives in peer mediation. The aim of the PEACE (Peers in Education Addressing Conflict Effectively) program is to reduce the level of violence in Wisconsin elementary schools by teaching children how to resolve their conflicts nonviolently. Through peer mediation, children learn to communicate and problem-solve more effectively, and to take responsibility for resolving their own conflicts peacefully.

The principals, teachers, parents and attorneys representing the schools will be introduced to the peer mediation process, which will provide them with instruction to teach others. Once participants return to their schools, they will teach their students to respect each other, to actively listen to their classmates and to look for peaceful solutions to conflicts that arise.

The PEACE program, which began in 1995, currently serves nearly 24,000 Wisconsin elementary students from approximately 70 different schools around the state, including several in Madison and the surrounding area. It is co-sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Office of the Attorney General.

For more information on PEACE or other law-related education programs, contact Dee Runaas at 608-250-6191, Tom Watson at 608-250-6180, or look on the State Bar public website

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