Communities In Schools of Kent administers a mentoring program in partnership with the Kent School District. This service is a personal one-on-one relationship with a caring adult from the community and takes place at the six schools where we have a site coordinator and a number of additional schools.
The service is school-based, meaning all contact takes place at school during the school day. Meeting at school during school means that the students relate all the positives of this relationship to school. If the relationship were to go outside the bounds of school, the association would no longer be about school. Although this is not tutoring, studies have shown that students who have a mentor do well in school and have a higher chance of succeeding due to increased accountability and individualized support.
Students who have proven to benefit the most from our program are described by school staff as:
- Those who fly under the radar or are “invisible”
- Those who have less than 5 office referrals
- Those who consistently seek adult attention (whether it be positive or negative)
- Those who are on “the brink of success”
We do ask that our volunteer mentors commit for the current school year.
We regularly hold training sessions, which are typically two hours long. Training times are dependent upon availability of the new mentors and can be held during the workday or in the evening.