Welcome to Lakeland Schools

Mentor Program

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1. Purpose and intended outcomes of the mentoring program
The mentoring program is an orientation program designed to help the mentee teacher to learn the "nuts and bolts" of the working in the Lakeland Central School District. The program is oriented towards the goals of:

  • helping beginning teachers transition from preparation to practice;
  • providing guidance and support;
  • developing and improving instructional skills in order to improve student achievement;
  • helping transmit the culture of the organization;
  • increasing an individual's commitment to a particular school and public education in general;
  • increasing the retention rate for good beginning teachers;
  • creating a professional learning culture that crosses experience lines;
  • promoting school reform.

2. Selection of mentors
Mentors shall be selected based upon consultation with the building representative by the building principal, who shall in turn recommend mentors to the Superintendent of Schools for his/her action in recommending mentors for Board appointment.

3. Role of the Mentor
The role of the mentor will be to guide and support their mentees. Information obtained by a mentor through interaction with a mentee shall not be made available to supervisors or used in the evaluation of such mentee; unless this information exchange is in accordance with the commissioner's regulations at 8-A NYCRR Section 1200.2 (dd).

4. Mentor Selection Criteria
Mentor selection shall be based upon the following criteria:

  • willingness and time to serve as mentor;
  • evidence of superior teaching abilities and excellence in teaching;
  • ability to allow the mentee to develop his/her own effective teaching style.

5. Time Allotted for Mentoring
In order to achieve the program's goals and outcomes, sufficient time must be allotted for mentoring to occur. Some mentoring activities (planning, reflecting, commenting, record keeping) may occur during non-instructional periods or other professional activity time. Other activities (team teaching, modeling instructional strategies, role playing) will need to occur during the instructional day. Activities designed to lead to development and/or improvement of instructional technique would be enhanced by common planning time for the mentor-mentee pair, where practical.

Up to ten half-days shall be granted for collaborative work between the mentor and mentee with pre-approval by the principal.

6. Mentor Compensation - Click here for the Lakeland Universal Time Sheet

Both the mentor and the mentee shall receive 4 inservice credits. Those mentors who have already reached the maximum number of contractually compensated inservice credits or the maximum number of allowable credits shall, in lieu of credit, receive a stipend of $1000.00

7. Record Keeping 

Both the mentor and the mentee shall maintain a log of mentoring activities that includes the date and hour of mentoring activities, and a description of activity. It is expected that mentoring activities will average approximately one hour per week or forty hours per school year.

All log entries must be made to the electronic mentor log form hosted by My Learning Plan and submission of your electronic log will be required before credits or stipends will be issued. Detailed entries should be made into your My Learning Plan mentor log each week. Be sure to save each entry after recording your data; do not click on the Submit Log link until the end of the school year.

The District shall maintain documentation of the implementation of the mentoring program for at least seven years from the date of completion of the mentoring activities.

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