Recruitment of Conciliators
Twenty-three volunteers were recruited for a September 1995 training. Special emphasis and attention was devoted to recruiting non-EuroAmerican trainees to ensure that teams could reflect the cultural diversity of a broad range of disputants. The Project was successful in recruiting volunteers representative of the entire community. The mix of volunteers recruited was as follows (totals exceed the number of volunteers because volunteers fell into more than one category):
16 women and 7 men
ages 21 to late 60s
11 Caucasians, 2 African Americans, 3 Latinos/Hispanics, 2 Asian Americans, and 5 Native Americans
3 people who identified themselves as having disabilities
2 educators and 1 retired educator
3 parents of children with disabilities
7 people who self-identified as advocates
Personal contacts were made by Project staff with individuals who were able to recommend potential trainees. In addition, local community dispute resolution centers, colleges, cultural or ethnic organizations (NAACP, AARP, Latino Coalition, African-American Community Coalition, Native American programs, Asian outreach centers), churches, PTAs and other organizations within the community were contacted. Notices in newsletters, press releases, and information shared with schools and parent groups may also have produced trainees. Incentives for participating in the training and volunteering time to the Project included:
• free conciliation training;
• the opportunity to help families and children with special needs; and
• helping to save tax dollars that might be spent on due process by resolving situations at the local level.
The Project provided or reimbursed volunteers for child care, transportation, meals, and other expenses incurred in order to participate in the training. The Project has continued to provide the conciliators with support for expenses associated with their volunteer commitment, based on the different needs of individual volunteers.
Volunteer Conciliator Training(4)
Each volunteer participated in a 30-hour training in dispute resolution techniques, the CBSF team model and its specific application to special education disputes. The training was scheduled for four days, each 7½ hours long, in September 1995. Training days were two consecutive Wednesdays and Thursdays, anticipating that volunteers would need to be available when most school-based conciliations would take place, during the educators' workday, rather than evenings or weekends. The week between training sessions allowed trainees an opportunity to spend time reading and processing the written materials and practicing skills.
The basic conciliation skills training included presentations, demonstrations, both large and small group discussions and experiential learning through roleplays designed as opportunities to practice skills. These various teaching methods are structured to accommodate a variety of learning styles and to facilitate the integration of concepts and skills.
It is necessary to have a long enough block of time on each training day so that material can be presented, the process can be demonstrated, and trainees can participate in roleplay exercises to facilitate experiential l
