All Beach is saying . . . is give peace a chance

But they weren't complaining about the food in the cafeteria or having too much homework -- they were protesting violence.

Students from all nine schools in the Miami Beach feeder pattern held a peace summit parade Wednesday.

``This was an opportunity for all of us to get together with a common reason to keep the peace,'' said Stacie Gissen, sponsor of the Soul Train Mediators at Nautilus Middle School.

Led by the Miami Beach High marching band and cheerleaders, kids from kindergarten on up marched from the Jackie Gleason Theater of Performing Arts to Miami Beach High. As drums pounded and trumpets blared, the students chanted, ``We care! We care!''

Banners from each school proclaimed peaceful resolutions instead of violence. One banner, the letters made of puzzle pieces, read: ``Peace by Piece.'' Another, decorated in yellow flowers, proclaimed, ``Peace grows.''

Following the parade, the kids entertained each other with songs, dances and poetry with peace-related themes.

Upon learning of the event, Miami Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber signed a resolution declaring May 8 as ``Peace Day.''

The parade and summit were part of P.R.O.U.D. -- Peacefully Resolving Our Unresolved Differences, said Norma Whittum, an intergroup relations specialist with Dade County schools.

``The peer mediators within the schools decided to organize a parade and summit to promote nonviolence,'' she said.

The schools in the Miami Beach feeder pattern began offering conflict resolution and peer mediation in 1991 as a way to teach students to resolve their differences without violence, said Region II Superintendent Emilio Fox.

``The kids like it because they aren't being sent to the principal's office or being suspended,'' he said. ``And the teachers like it because they are teaching their students to think independently.''

Since the schools began offering conflict resolution, the number of students suspended each year has decreased dramatically, Fox said.

Romeo Herring, 15, an eighth-grader at Nautilus Middle School, joined the Soul Train Mediators to make school life easier.

``I've learned how to listen more,'' he said. ``And now I don't have to worry about getting into fights.''