THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, October 19, 1994            TAG: 9410190409
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

STUDENTS TO EXCHANGE IDEAS ABOUT VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

Students across the state will discuss their experiences and views on school violence Thursday during a teleconference organized by the Governor's Office of Citizen Affairs.

A panel that includes state officials and students who have been involved in school violence and mediation will address ways of curbing a growing concern about safety in the classroom.

Among the local schools whose student representatives will watch and interact by phone are Northeastern High School in Elizabeth City, Manteo and Cape Hatteras high schools and Gates County Senior High.

The forum, titled ``Speak Out Against Violence,'' will focus on strategies to reduce violence, such as peer mediation, said Jon Chandonnet, youth involvement coordinator in the Office of Citizen Affairs.

More than 30 students, including club presidents and student council officers, will view the program at Northeastern, Principal Becky Phelps said.

``It's just a great opportunity for them to feel a part of all this,'' she said.

``We are very fortunate here,'' Phelps said. ``I don't think we at Northeastern have experienced a lot of the violence. . . . But we hear the horror stories.''

Phelps said she hopes the program will ``plant a seed'' in the students' minds about what can happen without preventive efforts.

``You don't want to wait until the first gun appears and then take action,'' Phelps said.

Panelists will address questions about why they feel unsafe in school, what it would take for a young person to feel safe and who needs to be involved in reducing school violence, organizers said.

School facilities have been used increasingly this year to help educators and students communicate with counterparts from across the state.

Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. sent his Save Our Students after-school program, later renamed Support Our Students, to the area via satellite in a statewide teleconference last winter.

``I think we're going to see a lot more of this,'' Phelps said. by CNB