Meet the Facilitators

Cheryl Hazell-Small

Cheryl Hazell-Small has been in special education for over 30 years and has found the profession to be rewarding and challenging. For her, effective communication is key, as is striving to understand disagreements between parties. Thus, she elicits and clarifies each party’s position and works closely to identify the respective interests and underlying concerns with an equity lens. It is essential to explore beyond the surface to achieve a fair and equitable resolution no matter the conflict, and Ms. Hazell-Small skillfully applies her tenacity and extensive experience to every mediation.

An adjunct in the Education Department of a Bay Area University, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a master’s degree from Western Michigan University, both in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

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Bonnie Waldman

Bonnie Waldman, MA, CCC - SLP dedicated over 24 years to serving as a Lead Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), helping individuals of all ages overcome communication challenges and achieve their full potential. Her work has been rooted in a deep commitment to empowering others, fostering understanding, and improving lives through effective communication.

In addition to Bonnie’s seasoned SLP expertise, she is an experienced mediator, skilled in facilitating small and large teams to resolve conflicts and build bridges between diverse perspectives. Her ability to listen, empathize, and collaborate has made her a trusted advocate for harmony and progress.

With a passion for restorative justice and service, she has a proven track record of making a positive impact. Bonnie is dedicated to creating inclusive and supportive communities where everyone’s voice can be heard.

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Crystal Williams

Crystal Williams, a Disability Informed Mediator and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) consultant, leads White & Williams ADR Services LLC, specializing in Special Education Dispute Resolution. Her expertise spans IEP facilitation, conflict management coaching, professional development, parent engagement, and trauma-informed practices. With a Master of Dispute Resolution from the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, Crystal further honed her mediation skills through training at Waymakers Dispute Resolution Services and Mosten Guthrie Academy. She is deeply involved in various organizations, serving as a Board Member for the Southern California Mediation Association, Program Advisory co-chair for the Western Justice Center, advisor to the Board for Kids Managing Conflict, and coordinator of the Youth Police Dialogue series through the San Pedro Rotary Club.

Educationally, Crystal holds a Master of Arts in Teacher Education with dual special education credentials from Claremont Graduate University and has 15 years of K-12 teaching experience across various school levels. She now serves as a Social Justice Educator at the University of Redlands in their graduate teacher education preparation programs. Additionally, she earned a Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology from Argosy University with a focus on treatment and a BA in Social Science with emphases in Psychology, along with minors in Psychology and Law and Children and Families in Urban America from the University of Southern California. Crystal’s commitment extends to her 5-year tenure as an Adjunct Instructor at the Learning Rights Law Center’s T.I.G.E.R program, where she guided parents through the IEP process and empowered families to navigate the special education system. A seasoned public speaker, Crystal has presented for TEDx and at numerous local and national conferences. Additionally, Crystal was the Keynote Speaker at the 2024 CA State SELPA Conference.

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Kimberly Schulist

Prior to becoming a special education mediator and facilitator, Kim was a special education attorney for over twenty years. She has her Master of Laws (LLM) in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Her passion has always been in the field of special education and she has now devoted her practice to exclusively special education alternative dispute resolution. She is committed to establishing healthy and communicative long-term relationships between schools and families. Her background as a special education attorney and now a mediator provides unique insights in her special education mediation practice. Currently, she is a special education mediator/facilitator in several states including Hawaii, Ohio, Utah, Connecticut, New Jersey and for the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) here in California.

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Joanne Murphy

Joanne Murphy is a career educator, student advocate and equity leader working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her resume includes special education case management for deaf and hard of hearing students, program specialist work covering all aspects of special education student placement and staff professional development, program management of special education paraeducators, program management for intervention strategies and coordination of Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and Local Education Agency (LEA) compliance.

Her current work includes Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), mediation and facilitation for issues regarding special education, assisting parents, school district and school site staff and administrators.  This work is done via direct consultation with the parents and school staff either in the Facilitated IEP process or on an as-needed consultation basis.  Joanne also works collaboratively with school district administrations to develop cohesive equity plans that address district significant disproportionality.  She provides assessment of policies, practices and procedures including qualitative and quantitative data gathering and analysis, transfer of district information to the California Department of Education Continuous Monitoring Plan.  She assists district administrations in establishing root causes of disproportionality, agendas and documents for Educational Partner meetings that address bringing high quality evidence based teaching strategies and district equity policy making to the forefront.

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Kristin Windley

Kristin Windley, a San Franciscan native, is an Education Attorney at East Bay Children's Law Offices (EBCLO), and leads Realignment Mediation, LLC., specializing in trauma informed, culturally competent mediation and alternative dispute resolutions.

Kristin’s journey to advocacy began when she worked at Alameda County Juvenile Hall. Recognizing the disparity in access to services and support for youth of color within the Juvenile Justice System, she knew her purpose was in serving these children and being a conduit of change. Kristin practiced juvenile defense work as a North Carolina licensed attorney in Charlotte, NC with a focus on education, and when it was time for her to come back to the Bay Area, she knew she had to continue the work. In alignment with her purpose, she has dedicated  her time to serving youth in foster care, through holistic, vigorous advocacy.

In addition to her work at EBCLO and Realignment Mediation, Kristin is a mediator for Community Boards and the Oakland Community Police Review Agency, Board Trustee for Sterne School, and Commissioner for the Southeast Community Facility Commission. Kristin is also a part of numerous workgroups regarding special education and school discipline defense work.

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Christine Whalen

Christine focuses her Bay Area practice on facilitation, mediation, and conflict coaching.  After more than 20 years working as an attorney representing children and parents in the juvenile dependency system, including educational advocacy for her child clients, she now enjoys helping people reach resolutions through collaborative processes.

 

 

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Maighna Jain

Maighna (“MJ”) previously worked with incarcerated youth in San Francisco, strategizing with court partners to find alternatives to detention and would attend 504, IEP, and student disciplinary meetings with the youth and their families. After graduating law school, MJ has primarily focused on youth law work, including special education and school discipline defense, as a senior attorney for Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and as a supervising and managing attorney for Bay Area Legal Aid. She is a certified yoga and meditation instructor, teaching in juvenile detention centers and in schools.

 

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Anna Wong

Anna Wong previously served with the San Francisco Unified School District's Special Education Services, where she supported districtwide compliance, trained educators and administrators, and worked closely with IEP teams to improve systems and processes that benefit students with disabilities. She is a certified mediator and a trilingual interpreter fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, enabling her to support meaningful communication across diverse communities.

In her facilitation work, Anna is dedicated to creating respectful, inclusive, and culturally responsive spaces where all participants feel heard. She believes that open communication, mutual understanding, and collaboration are essential to building trust and supporting positive outcomes for students and their families.

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Jason Harper

Jason Harper is the founder of Harper Conflict Resolution, LLC and a nationally recognized alternative dispute resolution (ADR) consultant, mediator, conflict management coach, and adjunct professor. Most notably, Jason is an ADR Consultant providing mediation and conflict resolution services to over 1000 school districts and charter schools in California, Ohio, Connecticut, and Colorado. He is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law teaching Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution. Jason has been recognized by the California State Senate and the United States Congress for his mediation training.