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Board hears new mentoring agreement: Improve Your Tomorrow to serve 100 middle-school scholars with grant funds
Summary
The administration presented a new, grant‑funded mentoring agreement with Improve Your Tomorrow to serve 100 scholars at Blackburn and Powell Middle Schools; trustees requested external references and promised additional vetting before contractual approval.
The district presented an information item describing a new, grant‑funded mentoring partnership with Improve Your Tomorrow that would serve 100 scholars—50 at Blackburn Middle School and 50 at Powell Middle School—through a college‑academy model of mentoring, academic supports, social‑emotional sessions, family workshops and college trips.
Miss Lakeisha Marshall Thomas said the program is funded through grant and private funds and that no district funds are required. She described site visits by program representatives and a visit from a mentor to the district that allowed staff to see daily routines for mentors on site. Dr. Sebeck and other trustees asked for external references because this would be a new engagement with the organization in Jackson; Marshall Thomas confirmed that the program has not previously worked with JPS and that formal references had not yet been obtained.
Trustee comments emphasized the desire for due diligence before approving a new vendor relationship. Marshall Thomas and other administrators committed to collecting external references and more background on Improve Your Tomorrow and said they would provide that information to the board prior to the June 17 meeting.
The presentation conveyed program goals, including targeted mentoring for young men and women of color, family engagement and academic supports, and noted the program would be implemented with mentors performing structured work on site.
