In collaboration with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, this one-day conference for Catholic Elementary School religion coordinators, faculty and principals will make use of Ignatian Spirituality to explore the ministry of leadership in a changing world. This year's theme, Restorative Justice and the Classroom, how the administering of discipline with students can be a teaching moment about peacemaking and faith, will feature keynote speakers Ron and Roxanne Classeen.

Roxanne Claassen, M.A. is a teacher at Raisin City Elementary, a diverse K-8 school in rural Fresno County, California. She has twenty years of classroom experience at both the elementary and middle school levels. Roxanne has served as a mentor teacher, a beginning teacher support provider, and peer mediation coordinator. Roxanne and Ron co-authored a training book, Making Things Right, with 32 activities that teach conflict resolution and mediation skills. Roxanne has trained more than two hundred teachers to use Discipline that Restores in their classrooms and to initiate and administer student mediation programs in their schools. Roxanne honestly says that discipline is one of her favorite parts of teaching. Her Master’s Degree in Conflict and Peacemaking enabled her to introduce and implement restorative discipline practices in her school. Roxanne uses cooperative structures and mediation to handle most discipline problems.

Ron Claassen, M.A., M.Div., D.Min. is the co-founder and Director of the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University. Ron teaches School Conflict and Mediation, Advanced Mediation, Restorative Justice, and several other courses in the MA Peacemaking and Conflict Studies Program at Fresno Pacific University. Ron also provides training, consultation, and intervention services in the community. Ron was the founder and former director of the Fresno County Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP), the first in California. He has extensive experience in both civil and criminal mediation and has trained thousands in restorative justice, conflict resolution, peacemaking and mediation. He is the author of numerous articles and training manuals including Restorative Justice Fundamental Principles, adopted by the UN Working Party on Restorative Justice, and Making Things Right, a curriculum for Schools co-authored with his wife, Roxanne. He was the recipient of the 2007 Carl and Esther Robinson Outstanding Advocate for the Common Good Award. In addition to consulting with many school districts Ron initiated and helped implement the Restorative Discipline policy at Fresno Pacific University.

Register online at http://registration.xenegrade.com/lmuextension/courseDisplay.cfm?schID=175