HISTORY

In 1994, the students of a fourth grade class at St. Vincent de Paul School in suburban Buffalo, NY, were having trouble getting along with each other. One of the students came home and told his mother about classmates fighting and picking on each other.

As a concerned parent for her son, as well as a homeroom mom, she got permission from the school principal to work with the class for an hour a week.

The children were allowed to openly discuss their problems and fears, which led to role-playing, skits and conflict resolution skills. The children enjoyed the class so much, she was asked to come back and work with them the following year.

Connie Cavanaugh, the homeroom mom, returned the following year and created the ‘critical issues class’ that was taught to these students for the next four years, until graduation. During this time, the curriculum was rewritten, edited and copy written and is now that basis of the ‘Critical Issues Class.’

In the spring of 1998, the sixth and seventh grade classes took a field trip to Toronto. When they returned, it was discovered that some of them expressed fear about walking around a big city, especially in light of the violence and deaths at several middle schools across the country. They were concerned that violence was drifting towards the suburbs and gangs were beginning to form in their neighborhoods.

With their Critical Issues teacher Ms. Cavanaugh, they began discussing their common fears and decided to do something about making all students aware of how to deal with the violence themselves.

The students broke into groups to find the sources that could assist them. Their goal was to meet with them face to face. Editorial letters were written to newspapers, television news reporters were contacted, calls were made to the Erie County Executive, and the Sheriff’s Department, and letters followed the calls.

The Sheriff responded to the calls and he and his staff arranged for an assembly to present issues of violence and conflict resolution. Their presentation was accompanied by a discussion of how drugs affect violent behavior. Newspaper and television stories followed. The word was out and other schools began asking for presentations of the S.A.V.E. program.

This was the beginning of S.A.V.E., and since the students first began their quest for answers, they have continued to define the program and have been ambassadors of nonviolence to other schools.

With the mandates from state and districts focusing on academic performance, there is little opportunity in the regular school curriculum for students to learn conflict and problem resolution skills that will help them integrate in the school and community environment. Our program meets that challenge.