It’s here that Frank Handy, chair of the Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution, works as a circuit-breaker between warring state schools and parents.

“We get people who are very angry and very frustrated and don’t feel heard,” he said.

Since being established by the Andrews government almost 15 months ago, the Australian-first initiative has dealt with 56 complaints.

The bulk of these have come from parents who have hit a roadblock with the Education Department.

The grievances may have been festering for years. In the most dire cases, schools have taken out intervention and trespass orders against parents. And at the centre of the ugly spats is a student, who has often become disengaged from their education.

Mr Handy doesn't decide who is right and who is wrong or impose penalties.

“Our focus is not whose fault was it," he explained. "Our focus is on the situation today and how can we solve the problem for the future."

The Canadian-born lawyer, who has 24 years of experience in dispute resolution and also runs his own conflict management firm, works alongside two deputy chairs and a panel of experts. They repair broken relationships by encouraging families and schools to refocus their attention on a student's needs.

"When it breaks down, when I get it, the focus is generally about the fight. Either the principal is terrible or that parent is no good as opposed to this child is not in a good space at the moment," he said.

"They have lost focus on the student, the focus is now on the dispute."

There are common themes; the inclusion of students with a disability, a school’s response to bullying and the disciplining of students.

One recent case involved a 13-year-old who was suspended for his involvement in a schoolyard fight.

The boy’s mum was upset. Why did her son receive a harsher penalty than the other student involved in the fight?

In the principal's office, Mr Handy facilitated a discussion between the school head and the boy's family.

The principal explained that the boy had received a harsher punishment because he had instigated the fight. Then the discussion moved onto what was going on in the teenager’s life.

“He was socially adept but hanging out with older kids and getting disengaged with school. He was not being respectful to the school community,” Mr Handy said. “The risk was that punishment would make all that worse.”

The situation has since improved. The young man has been assigned a male teacher as a mentor and provided with leadership opportunities at school.

“The principal told me a few weeks ago that he's now engaged with school” Mr Handy said. “He’s coming back from the edge.”

As schools have become increasingly complex spaces, so too have family disputes.

Parents have strong emotional bonds with their children and when something puts that at risk, they became understandably upset.

But Mr Handy is sometimes shocked by the "disrespect, anger and frustration" he witnesses.

“It’s almost like a road rage kind of thing,” he said.

“People seem comfortable having conversations you wouldn't normally have in a workplace in a school yard.”

According to Mr Handy, the power structures that have existed at schools for centuries are no longer working.

“[The belief that] everyone must fit into the system doesn't exist in society anymore. But it still exists in our schools,” he said.

As well as working with schools and families, Mr Handy also helps the department improve its processes.

"If the department could improve its capacity to handle these things effectively and people felt heard then I wouldn't be needed," he said.

"My goal is to put myself out of a job."