Students at New Brunswick High School have implemented a mediation program that is helping them deal with any problem they might encounter, with classmates or otherwise. 

The school’s principal touts the mediation program as an opportunity to discuss issues in a non-confrontational way and resolve disputes maturely with supervision from school administrators. 

Considering the rise and differences in school bullying in recent years, he claims the program wants to help students “work things out” and not allow grievances to fester and develop into something worse.

The program has an estimated success rating of 85 percent. 

The program brings together students involved in a conflict and brings them to the dean’s office.  They sit in separate rooms and are given an opportunity to let their emotions subside before discussing the issue.  Before discussions begin, administrators attempt to understand the problem and then help the students look at all possible solutions in their separate spaces.  Once each agrees to a solution, they come together to discuss how they will behave moving forward.

The program is 100 percent voluntary.  In some cases, students request to participate in mediation before administrators even realize there is a problem.  Most students are willing to participate even when mediation is suggested by administrators as part of an incident investigation.  There are also instances in which parents are contacted and participate in the mediation proceedings.

School administrators are proud of the program and believe it is a good use of school resources.  According NBHS’s principal, “Getting students to fix their problems helps them later on in multiple settings such as the workforce or in college”.