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Toms River leaders highlight districtwide mentoring program as attendance and behavior supports
Summary
District presenters described a three-year mentoring program that now runs in nearly all Toms River schools, saying it enrolls roughly 300–320 participants districtwide and has "impacted over 60 to 75 students." Staff said mentors are volunteers who meet students weekly and lead periodic full-group events.
Toms River Regional School District officials told the board that a district mentoring program has expanded to nearly every school and is designed to improve student engagement, attendance and behavior.
"This is really important for us because our program is is so important," said one elementary presenter, describing a program that runs group events, training and logs for mentors. The district said overall enrollment across mentoring activities ranges between about 300 and 320, and presenters estimated the initiative has "impacted over 60 to 75 students." According to district staff, mentors are voluntary staff members — teachers, paraprofessionals and other school employees — who meet weekly with assigned students for about 10 to 15 minutes during school hours and participate in two to three larger group events per year.
District administrators framed mentoring as a tiered intervention that began at High School East and was later expanded. "One of the things that we know helps to support student academic success is when students feel safe in our schools," an administrator said while introducing the presentations. At the secondary level, a long-running program called "Raiders Helping Raiders" was described as having about 101 participating secondary students and more than 60 staff mentors; the facilitator said the program works by matching mentees to staff based on schedules and referrals from guidance and child study teams.
Presenters and board members emphasized that the program is voluntary and relies on staff goodwill. "We encourage all of our mentors to meet with their student once a week for about 10 to 15 minutes," one presenter said, explaining mentor responsibilities and the use of logs and training materials to keep activities structured. Board members asked practical questions about transportation and timing for full-group events; presenters said the full-group events are typically held before school and students are usually dropped off by car, while regular mentor meetings occur during the school day.
District leaders said the mentoring programs operate at 19 district locations, including the Early Learning Center, and indicated a willingness to provide additional briefings or materials to the board if members wanted more detail.
