Reseda : Commission Praises Cleveland Students

A student conflict-resolution group at Cleveland High School is one of a dozen organizations and individuals to be honored by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations at an awards ceremony next month.

The Red and Blue Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Committee at Cleveland High was born of long-simmering tension at the school that erupted in a campus-wide disturbance in 1991, college counselor Barbara Yanuck, who directs the committee, said.

“I said, ‘Hey. This can’t keep up. We’ve got to do something,’ ” said Yanuck, who is as familiar with names and graffiti tags of local gangs as she is with the average SAT scores accepted at regional universities.

The committee, which won this year’s John Anson Ford Award from the county, is composed of about 70 students of all grades, races, religions and attitudes, Yanuck said.

It differs from other peer-counseling programs in its inclusiveness: “Some schools just bring in the ‘good’ kids to meet, but you can’t do that. You get isolation. We need to bring all kinds of kids together and see what they want, what they’re afraid of, and let them figure out themselves how they can get along,” Yanuck said.

Gustavo Ortiz, 19, a senior at Cleveland, describes himself as a former troublemaker who frequently fought at the school. After one violent incident, Yanuck yanked him into a room with his adversaries, sat them all down at a table and asked them to work it out--peacefully.

“It solves problems, it gets people to talk about whatever the problem, whether it’s race, or gangs, or whatever,” said Ortiz, who has been a member of the committee for two years. The committee meets once a week--or more frequently,if necessary.

“It has worked. It has absolutely worked,” Yanuck said. “The students know: What they do on their own time is their business. But here on this campus, it has got to be safe.”

For more information about the Oct. 11 awards program, to be held at the Music Center Downtown, call (213) 974-7609.