Students are still voicing their opinions.

I'm a few days late on this, but Pioneer senior Elaine Ezekiel had a letter published in the "Other Voices" section of the Ann Arbor News a few days ago. I've heard plenty of seniors express indifference about the cameras, since they'll only be affected for a few months. But a good number of seniors are showing they recognize their responsibility to future students.

Cameras cost more, do less than Pioneer's peer programs

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

BY ELAINE EZEKIEL

There has been a lot of debate over the installation of video cameras at Pioneer High School. I will not argue the point that video cameras are inherently evil devices. Instead, I will discuss the alternative options we are developing at Pioneer to better serve the same purposes desired from the cameras.

Pioneer, like any school with nearly 3,000 students, has problems with theft, assault and fighting. However, as a fourth-year student who attends the school for seven hours daily, I have never felt unsafe at Pioneer. Unfortunately, many of the decisions made concerning Pioneer are shaped by those who are not able to spend significant time in the building. I am glad that the school board is concerned enough with the safety of students like me to spend $80,000 in security measures, but this money could be better used.

Any incident of violence is one incident too many and our collective goal should be a peaceful, safe school. The installation of cameras does not prevent violence or theft; they simply catch and punish the involved individuals.

Cameras are less cost effective and less efficient than proactive programs newly implemented at Pioneer this year. Here are three: The Peer Mediation Program, Positive Peer Influence, and the Peer Mentoring Program. Their aim is to create a more stable atmosphere within Pioneer. Their effect on the school is already statistically remarkable, but because there is more draw towards negative press, their existence passes under the surveillance of many.

The Peer Mentoring Program was created this year to pair one troubled freshman entering Pioneer with a volunteering junior or senior to ease the turbulence of transition. This program provides a tutor, mentor and friend to a student who may lash out as a result of lack of support in these areas.

PPI, headed by Jonathan Stern and Kristine Wisner, is a confidential peer group of 12 students separated by gender established in 1986. They help troubled students to work through their life challenges that could easily provide underlying reasons for violence at Pioneer such as substance abuse, problems at home and academic difficulties. Dr. Wisner describes the program as "swamped.'' It is insufficiently staffed with only one social worker and one psychologist to serve a school of nearly 3,000.

Most closely tied to this debate is the newly established Peer Mediation Program. Through the Oakland Mediation Center in Bloomfield Hills, 14 selected students, including myself, were trained over 14 hours this summer about conflict mediation techniques. Again understaffed by the hardworking counselors Evelyn Tolson, Sara Vance and community assistant Ketrina Webster, the confidential program offers an alternative way to address conflicts rather than resorting to administrative disciplinary action. From Sept. 25 to today, there have been 24 successful mediations, 10 of which clearly prevented violence.

How many violent fights would cameras prevent? Maybe a few on school grounds, but at most, the cameras would simply displace violence off of Pioneer property as opposed to ensuring actual student safety. The total cost of the Peer Mediation Program was a one-time fee of $4,500, which included the training session for staff and students, one year of consultation services, a four-day staff training program that certified the Pioneer staff in training future mediators, and rights to the curriculum for years to come. For one-twentieth of the proposed price for cameras, I can point to 10 individual cases where violence was avoided.

Under the two new programs, Positive Peer Influence, and Principal White's new leadership, Pioneer has seen significant drops in violence across the board according to administrative records. During the same time period last year compared to this year, reported cases of fighting, harassment and assault have fallen from 26 to 12, 17 to 4, and 12 to 5, respectively.

We are not perfect, but reactive measures such as surveillance cameras are extravagant and unnecessary for our school in this period of positive change.

About the writer: Elaine Ezekiel is an Ann Arbor resident and a senior at Pioneer High School.