Mediation was used to resolve a situation involving a student fight at Forest Park Middle School in early September. According to Principal Joseph Pisano, the mediation took most of the day and included students and parents who met at different locations both on-campus and off.

The fight that led to the mediation involved several of the school’s students. The event was recorded and posted on social media, but was later removed from the school’s Facebook page because of the controversy it sparked in the comments section. The fight occurred after school hours and off-campus, but because it involved the school’s students, the local superintendent, Louis Cavallo, believed it was important to resolve it in school.

According to Cavallo, "We are a small community. What happens outside of school carries into school.”

Regarding the posting of video of the fight on social media, said Cavallo, "Adults need to think twice before posting videos of children.” He was also disturbed by the comments in response to the video. "Some commenters were saying 'lock them up' about the children in the video. They are children. He believes that if the kids in the video had been white, people would probably have said, "It is just boys being boys."

This is not the first time mediation has been used to resolve issues at the school that have arisen between students and parents. Other incidents also occurred off school property but were addressed as if they were a school issue.

Cavallo wants the community to understand that mediating these issues is about fixing the problem, not punishing those involved.