The CRT gets C-U-T
Author:
Alvaro Martinez
Recently I had a family crisis in my life and needed
to talk to someone. I knew I could talk to a counselor
of the Conflict Resolution Team at Watsonville High,
but when I went there, I found out the program was cut
because there wasn’t enough money in the budget.
The C.R.T. was a group of students, called mediators,
who helped students solve their problems. Anyone who
was having problems could set up an appointment for a
one-on-one session.
I found out about C.R.T. when I was a freshman. I had
got in a fight with one of my best friends because he
had said something about my family. I met with the
coordinator at C.R.T. and she set up mediation between
my best friend and me. We talked about the fight and
agreed not to bring up family members when we argued.
We decided to stay friends.
Before I became involved with the C.R.T. I was getting
suspended all the time. The C.R.T helped me a lot over
the years. After my first mediation, I went back three
or four times to talk about the same things, but with
other people. I was able to work out my problems with
everyone.
Because the C.R.T. helped me so much I became involved
my senior year. I was able to talk to several kids
about how to avoid conflicts with others. Gina
Castaneda ran the program for two years.
“The C.R.T. was so important to stop the violence at
the school,” Castaneda said. “The Pajaro Valley
Prevention Student Association applied for a grant
from the State to keep it going, but it
didn’t get approved.”
So where should you go if you need to talk to someone?
The Anger Management Office at Watsonville High offers
counseling to the students who used to go to the
C.R.T. for help.
The C.R.T. helped me a lot with how to solve my anger
problems and how not to fight with other people. I
liked being a C.R.T. member because I could help other
people with their own problems just like mine.
Watsonville High school really needs the C.R.T.
because of all the gang fighting they have. The gang
population dropped when I was there. But when C.R.T.
shut down a year ago, the gang problem got worse.
The school and students need to get C.R.T. back at
Watsonville High. It could help the school improve
their population for the sake of the students of WHS.
I think that the parents of the students would be
happier with C.R.T. back at their children’s school.
To find more information about how we can bring back
the C.R.T. to Watsonville High, go to www.pvpsa.org.