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Monroe-Woodbury officials outline mentor program that pairs new hires with experienced staff
Summary
Coordinators described a district mentor system used for more than two decades that pairs new teachers and staff with building mentors, uses live Google logs and a district Google Classroom, and supports certification verification for New York State.
Michelle Pereira, a fifth-grade teacher at North Main Elementary and co-coordinator of the district mentor program, and Casey Capen, a teacher at Pine Tree and co-coordinator, described how Monroe-Woodbury’s mentor program matches new hires with experienced staff and maintains documentation to meet New York State requirements.
The program, Pereira said, began more than 20 years ago in partnership with the district and the Monroe-Woodbury Teachers Association and was implemented before it became required under New York State education regulations. “Our program started before it was required by law and now involves more people than is actually required by law,” Pereira said.
Pereira and Capen said the district maintains a live, shared spreadsheet and a Google Classroom that currently includes “between 75 new staff members this year” and, with mentors and coordinators, approaches “close to a hundred” participants. Mentors log meetings in live mentor–mentee logs so building coordinators and program coordinators can verify required time commitments during the year.
The co-coordinators described how building coordinators (one per building) select mentors based on grade level, department, location in the building and personality, and how mentors and mentees meet regularly. Capen said teacher-mentees are expected to meet “a few hours per week” and teaching assistants “meet for 30 minutes per week.” Building coordinators check logs every two months and escalate unresolved issues to the program coordinators and HR.
Pereira and Capen outlined program supports beyond weekly meetings: a summer orientation for building coordinators, mentors and new staff; suggested monthly discussion topics (for example, establishing routines and preparing for open house); periodic check-ins; end-of-year surveys of mentors and interns; and an annual verification process to document a year of mentorship for New York State certification. “This is where they get signed off by our superintendent of schools and we submit them to HR and they get forwarded into their TEACH accounts and on to the state,” Capen said.
Board members asked about technology supports, mentor workload and whether mentors keep mentoring informally after the formal year ends. Pereira said mentors and building administrators frequently continue to provide support and that HR can step in for additional assistance when needed. She also explained that mentors sometimes work with more than one intern by design, to build camaraderie among a small group of hires with similar assignments, and that coordinators will adjust pairings during the year if necessary.
Capen and Pereira asked for continued board support for routine personnel approvals that allow mentors to be added or retroactively authorized in district records; they said paperwork deadlines tied to board meeting schedules sometimes require retroactive entries. “That might be because that person was board approved on Jan. 15. They have to get board approved first, then we can start matching them with a mentor,” Capen said.
The coordinators closed by thanking building administrators, department chairs, HR and payroll and said the program remains a tool for recruiting and retaining staff.
