Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 Conflicting federal mandates--one calling for zero tolerance for school violence, another forbidding the expulsion for any cause of children with disabilities--will bring a federal task force to the University of Oregon Thursday, March 5, and Friday, March 6. A panel of researchers, educators and family members appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to examine safe-school projects in three states will tour elementary schools in Eugene that use the First Step to Success program. First Step, created by researchers at the UO College of Education, has dramatically reduced incidents of aggressive or disruptive behavior in elementary schools in Oregon, Washington and Kentucky. The task force also will tour the Lane County Educat ion Service District's Lane School, which serves children and youth with emotional and behavioral problems. Task force members will meet with focus groups to examine how the university has worked with local, state and federal programs to introduce safe-school practices. The task force previously visited schools in Rhode Island and Florida. The task force will issue a report on "Promoting Safe & Drug Free Schools that Support the Learning and Development of All Students." The report will be presented to the National Association of School Psychologists annual convention next month. SOURCE: Co-directors of the UO Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior: Hill Walker , (541) 346-3592, Hill_Walker@ccmail.uoregon.edu; and Jeff Sprague, (541) 346-3592, jeff_sprague@ccmail.uoregon.edu; -30- #T-6071/Day