| CMC Staff |
| John Doggette, Exec. Director |
Jackie Kittrell,
Associate Director |
| Sharon Upshaw, Prog. Director |
| Greg Bascko, VISTA |
Sarah Krivenki,
VISTA, Neutral Zone Editor |
Lesley Rohrer,
VISTA |
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- Volunteer of the Month
- Welcome Jackie Kittrell
- Peer Mediation ? Where Stand Our Schools?
- Fourth Quarter Statistics
- The Need to Remain Neutral
- Thank You for Donating
- Thank You Seasoned Mediators
- Our Mediation Community
- Legal Language
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"Our Mediation Community"
In 2005, ?Our Mediation Community? will air Wednesdays at 9:00pm and Mondays at 11:30am. The program features guests who help to promote peace in our community. The schedule this month is as follows:
12-31 & 1/3, and 1/19 & 1/24: Sam Venable of the Knoxville News Sentinel
1/5 & 1/10: Nancy Seay, Director of Nursing at the MEDIC Blood Center
1/12 & 1/17: Robert Booker, civil rights historian.
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Volunteer of the Month
Greg Bascko is the CMC Volunteer of the month. CMC staff wondered when he applied why a senior with only one semester to graduate would join VISTA. Greg brought a desire to understand how CMC operated in the court and school environment. His curiosity and questioning manner have benefited me and strengthened the court staff?s knowledge of the services CMC can offer. We are confident that Greg is a better man for his year with us and we wish him well in completing his degree this spring. Equally important we hope to have him as a long time volunteer mediator with us. Thanks Greg, for becoming part of our family. |
Welcome Jackie Kittrell ? New Associate Director!
CMC would like to welcome Jackie Kittrell to our family! Our search for a new Associate Director was very brief. Jackie brings with her many talents and gifts and a desire to make CMC even better. The following is her introduction:
Once upon a time, on a sunny morning in November, a lawyer was walking to court, shuffling her files, locating a working pen, and mulling over her situation: twenty-five years of public interest experience; attorney for fifteen years; general counsel for a nonprofit corporation for ten years; in private practice doing guardian ad litem and civil rights cases for two years; mother of three sons, wife, and daughter to a beloved mother suddenly diagnosed with cancer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the director of the CMC, John Doggette, not suspecting the delightful serendipity to come from their meeting.
Not too long before, the lawyer had remarked to the heavens how she loved practicing law in Knoxville, yet missed her nonprofit work, fundraising, her community service, her legislative research, teaching, meeting people in a non-adversarial context, and---most of all----working with an issue, a process and an organization she absolutely believed in wholeheartedly. Now, with a word, her wish had come true. | |
Jackie Kittrell graduated from UT College of Law in 1988, having worked with nonprofit organizations throughout her time in law school. She has been involved in advocating for occupational and environmental health and safety around government weapons plants, investigating medical-legal policies and conducting historic document research, helping sick people and their families to testify before Congress and to tell their stories to the press. She has experience in civil rights litigation, including complex civil litigation and class actions. While she respects the traditional adversarial system and understands that the adversary system is sometimes the only way to resolve disputes, she also knows that it is not the best dialogue to have when the parties must continue their relationship with one another. She is an advocate for creative problem-solving. "There is an old adage that when you only have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. Non-traditional techniques like mediation give people other tools to have creative conflict, share feelings, and even resolve disputes permanently."
Her favorite sorts of clients are children who find themselves in the Juvenile Court system, either because of delinquent and unruly behavior, mental illness and disability, abuse and neglect. She has acted as a Guardian ad Litem for such children since 1989, as well as having been a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) while in law school. She has participated in many mediations at CMC as a voice for the best interests of the child. She is also trained as a family mediator and a Rule 31 mediator.
She has lived in Knoxville for a long time, having grown up peripatetically as the child of a naval officer. She is married to Cliff Honicker, the CAO of the Lisa Ross Birth & Women?s Center, and has given birth to three native Knoxvillians, Myles (22), Nicholas (19), and Conrad (13). She lives on a farm in East Knox County with cats and basset hounds, and loves to spend her spare time reading, drawing, knitting, growing moss and ferns, and playing with woodland animals.
Please welcome Jackie ? she wants to meet all of our family!
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Thank You Seasoned Mediators!
The Center expects all new volunteers to mediate for at least a year a requirement that has been in place since 1995. Over three hundred participants have been trained beginning in 1993. CMC is most fortunate to have participants still active from 18 of the 19 training classes. As we begin 2005 CMC would like to recognize and thank the following ?seasoned mediators.?
1993 - Mary Jendrek, Jim Johnson, Delores Mitchell, Sharon Murphree, & Dick Zivi
1994 - Julia Malia and Jim Malia
1996 - Lisa Givonetti, Dale Robinson, Dianne Rairdon and Conchetta Tuckson
1997 - Robert Cook, Bud Muly, Marita Vorneham
1998 - Susan Mee, Dave Rupert, Robert Waltz and Judie Watson
The Need to Remain Neutral
By Bonnie Bautz, Volunteer Mediator
I am writing this to my fellow mediators to hopefully point out that even with experience, there is always a lesson to be learned. I was recently involved in a visitation mediation. First, I want to point out that the parties were not adversarial. As a matter of fact, they were very agreeable. Why, you ask, did they come to mediation? Though they were agreeable, one party could not get a commitment out of the other party for scheduled visits. That being said, let me continue with this enlightening experience.
Everything seemed to be progressing quite well when one of the parties suddenly seemed to shut down in her responses and participation. My co-mediator and I decided it was time to take a break to see if that would help. After about ten minutes, the parties returned to the room and the first thing said was that the other party had shut down because I had said something that had bothered her. Now, I pride myself on my ability to stay neutral, to listen, and be very careful of my wording to stay unbiased. I believe the quote is: ?Pride cometh before the fall.?
During the session, they were discussing the visitation schedule and I was writing their suggestions up on the board when one of the suggestions had to do with the baby being picked up late because he would be eating his dinner at 7:00pm. When I heard that, I remember saying, loud and clear, something along the lines of ?you?re feeding the baby that late?? It was right after that that the mother shut down the mediation. To say the least, I was very grateful that after the break the father (the mother still not speaking) was willing to tell me what bothered her. I immediately apologized and assured her that I did not mean to upset her. She opened up and explained that the baby was very healthy and ate very often. Again I apologized and we continued the session, wrote an agreement, and the parties left very happy with the process.
What I learned was that I had brought my own experience as a mother into the process. My babies would have eaten, had their baths, and been in bed by 7:30pm. Here, I took my experience and not only used it as a benchmark against her parenting choices, but was accidentally and vocally judgmental of her.
I was wrong. We know everyone is different and they have their individual styles and make individual choices for what is right for themselves and their children. However, as mediators, we cannot impose our beliefs on individuals looking to us to help them. Unless there is a situation of abuse as we read before each session in the ?Agreement to Mediate,? we must remember throughout the process to remain vigilantly neutral. |
Peer Mediation ? Where Stand Our Schools?
The Community Mediation Center?s VISTAs have been working diligently in programs in seven of the Knox County Schools. The following are brief updates on each of our schools:
Austin East High School: Greg Bascko is the VISTA present in this school. Coordinators at the school are guidance counselor Tracy Cagle and Project GRAD Campus Director Jesse Jones. In October, 9 mediators were trained. The program has been well advertised in the school, and is widely accepted on campus; however, the coordinators have yet to find a location at which to hold the mediations. Plans are in motion for a mediation location, as well as refresher classes and training sessions for more peer mediators
Halls Middle School: Lesley Rohrer is the VISTA as Halls, and guidance counselor Sue Clapp is the coordinator. The program at this school continues to be extremely successful, due to the high level of support from administration, faculty, and student body. The students have performed 40 mediations so far this year. Two of the peer mediators (along with Lesley and Ms. Clapp) have met with Halls High School staff and administration, putting into motion plans to begin a program there next year.
Holston Middle School: another of Lesley?s schools, first-year guidance counselor Brad Byrd is the coordinator. Most students at Holston are eager to use their mediation skills, and Mr. Byrd?s enthusiasm and initiative to improve has led to some positive changes within the program. Plans are to have another training class for new mediators in the spring.
Gresham Middle School: the last of Lesley?s schools, assistant principal Jeff Castleberry is the coordinator. The students at Gresham are highly enthusiastic about promoting their program and have met three times in recent weeks to market peer mediation. Additionally, the students are preparing a mock role-play for the televised morning announcements.
Karns Middle School: Sarah is the VISTA at Karns, and guidance counselor Mary Prater is the coordinator. Twelve seventh graders were trained in October, to complement the seven existing eighth graders trained fall of 2003. The program shows a lot of promise and focus for monthly meetings will be on skill-building and promotion.
Vine Middle Magnet School: another of Sarah?s schools, coordinator is guidance counselor Sherone Shavers. Ten seventh graders were trained in October, and with the five existing eighth graders, there are 15 peer mediators at this school. Sarah has met with the students on three occasions, to do role-plays, sharpen active listening skills, and to plan ways to promote the program. Vine has a very solid program.
Whittle Springs Middle School: Greg is the VISTA to this program coordinated by guidance counselor John Lacava. There are nineteen peer mediators. Greg and Mr. Lacava recently met with new principal, Benny Perry, to discuss the future of the program, and were met with support and enthusiasm. It is hoped that mediation will become the first option for solving many disputes at WSMS.
The VISTAs are planning for the 3rd Annual Mediation Fest. The proposed date is Friday, April 8th. Peer mediators have been invited to a meeting on January 6th. Additionally, there is a Peer Mediation Advisory Council meeting the evening of January 10th. If you?d like to be involved in the peer mediation programs, contact Sarah, Lesley, or Greg at 215-6570, or at cmcjuvct@esper.com
Legal Language
By Don K. Ferguson (A volunteer mediator and author of the "Grammar Gremlins" column that appears in The Knoxville News-Sentinel every Sunday.)
Lien: a legal claim on property for payment of a debt; it lasts until the debt it secures is satisfied. (The most common pronunciation rhymes with "mean.").
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Fourth Quarter Statistics
The following table represents the statistics from the CMC for the months of October, November, and December 2004. Thank you to all of the support in the community for making this possible.
Seventy-four different volunteer mediators mediated during the three-month period.
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Organization Referring Parties
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Cases Referred |
Cases Mediated |
Parties Declined, Non-responded |
Mediated Agreements |
Fulfilled |
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Knox Juvenile Ct (juvenile) |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
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Knox Juvenile Ct. (Child Support Ct) |
40 |
21 |
19 |
17 |
17 |
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Knox Juvenile Ct. (Family Services)
Dependency & Neglect |
48 |
31 |
14 |
18 |
18 |
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Knox General Sessions (Civil)
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62 |
62 |
0 |
45 |
45 |
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Non-Court
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2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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CMC Family/Divorce Mediations
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3 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
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Community Mediation Center
?Building Futures Through Problem Solving?
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Thank You For Donating!
Endless thanks to the following people who have contributed to the CMC in response to our request for donations -- we sincerely appreciate your efforts to enable to continued success of this wonderful organizaton.
John Buckley, Lisa Carroll, John & Karen Doggette, Don Ferguson, Sam Fowler, Amy Goff, Grayfred & Lois Gray, Janet & Samuel Guy, Susie Holt, Kevin Jeske, Jim Johnson, Robert Murian, Steve Patterson & Bob Swan.
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