Mentoring
Mentors take center stage in
violence-prevention efforts
 Mentoring has played a key role in the Nassau BOCES implementation of the
Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative in the Westbury and Freeport
school districts.
"Our mentoring model provides a strong support network to encourage
students to stay in school and become stable, well-adjusted participants
in the educational process," says Laura Lustbader, Program Supervisor of
the Nassau BOCES Parent/Child Home Programs and Youth-at-Risk Community
partnership Program.
Mentors in group and one-on-one sessions, both during and after the
school day, helped at-risk elementary- and middle-school students develop
positive images of themselves and of authority figures—the end result
being to prevent school violence and promote healthy development of
children.
A unique collaboration
Safe Schools/Healthy Students, a unique federal collaboration among the
U.S. Department of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services,
provided the funding and framework for introducing—and in some cases
expanding—mentoring programs that involved personnel from the community as
well as the schools.
Mentors worked with third- fourth- and fifth-graders in the elementary
school and with students in the middle school. In elementary schools,
mentors were usually teachers who worked with groups of six to eight
students for each mentor. In middle schools, mentors comprised police
officers who worked with students weekly to develop conflict resolution
skills and life strategies.
In addition to meeting students at luncheons, police officers and their
mentees participated in the Nassau BOCES Outdoor Education Program, during
which students learned and put into practice a variety of pro-social,
cooperative behaviors that fostered communication, teamwork and conflict
resolution.
Sharing experiences
One role the mentors have played has been to introduce their
student-charges to new experiences. Lustbader notes, "At-risk youngsters
benefit from exposure to a variety of experiences that many others take
for granted." Mentors took middle school mentees to the Science Museum in
Queens and to the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA.
On the elementary school level, the program encouraged parental
involvement through family nights that took place in each building. Family
nights centered around activities involving Starlab, the earth balloon and
discussions of gang awareness and prevention. Students worked on community
service projects in each of the school buildings, with the goal being to
leave lasting beneficial impact on each building.
Assessing the overall impact of the mentor, Lustbader notes, "The
mentor/mentee relationship is different from the teacher/student
relationship. Mentors are often teachers—but in this context they're
concerned primarily with the mentee's social and emotional well-being.
We're operating on the proven theory that establishing a relationship with
a caring, consistent adult is a significant factor in keeping a child in
school. Our results so far have been very encouraging."
Contact:
Dr. Laura Lustbader, Program Supervisor
llustbad@mail.nasboces.org
(516) 608-6456
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