Having been a teacher for many years and a regional associate with the New York State Education Department, I am now volunteering as a mediator. I have been trained in transformative mediation and find the work gratifying.

My interest in community dispute resolution was inspired by work I did with New York's mediation network in special education law while working at SED. Unfortunately, cutbacks in the state budget have hit the community dispute resolution centers fairly drastically and I would encourage other educators to volunteer.