The Portal

Benefits of Lewiston Porter Mentoring Program discussed

by Jean Henesey
President, Lewiston Porter United Teachers
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 6, 2004

There have been many statements in the media concerning the mentoring of teachers at Lewiston Porter. The information provided in this article is intended to assist all parties involved in creating an accurate picture about this critical program. For simplicity sake, I will present the information in the traditional 5 W's format.

Who: The previous district superintendent, Dr. Walter Polka, and the Lewiston Porter United Teachers union officers negotiated the initial program.

When: We completed the process of negotiating the Mentoring Program in the summer of 1999. Both parties realized that New York state would mandate mentoring by Feb. 2, 2004. We wanted to have a program in place that was not only functioning, but functioning well prior to the deadline.

Why: One of the strengths of the district has always been the high quality of instruction occurring in the classrooms. Both parties wished to continue, and if possible, improve upon this quality. Fortunately, the district has never been satisfied with meeting minimum requirements.

The mentoring of new teachers will assist in ensuring a certified and qualified instructor in every classroom. Generally speaking, teachers are not born with a full compliment of instructional skills; we evolve by practicing life-long learning over the scope of our careers.

The State Education Department has recognized this evolutionary process by mandating the 175-hour requirement for all new teachers hired after Feb. 2, 2004. The 175 hours of professional in-service training will maintain their professional credentials, and furthermore, meet the requirements of the new teacher evaluation process in the last contract, which the Lewiston Porter Board of Education agreed to.

Mentoring must be a solid, successful introductory experience with a professional, experienced mentor. Also, new staff will receive information about safety procedures, school policies and philosophy in a consistent, logical manner. Hit and miss training is not good enough in an age of higher standards.

What: [Compensation] From the very initial planning stage of mentoring, all parties concerned recognized that mentoring will require compensation. Some districts place veteran teachers on a Teacher on Special Assignment classification to serve as mentor supervisors. Other districts such as Lewiston Porter, use qualified teachers who share a common grade level or department to mentor newly-hired teachers.

The average stipend compensation in Niagara County is $907. It varies from district to district, depending upon the time requirements and duties of the mentors. At Lewiston Porter, the superintendent enthusiastically wished to begin mentoring, but funding for stipends was unavailable. The compromise agreed to by the LPUT was to amortize the compensation over the mentor's career by granting in-service credits. A scale was created to reward four credits to more senior mentors with few years remaining to retirement, and obviously fewer credits to younger staff members.

Where: The program was created during informal negotiations. If the program is to undergo "monitoring and adjusting," those changes will necessitate a negotiated change with the district and LPUT representatives. A cancellation of the program will place the district in the unenviable position of being in violation of State Education Department regulations, and it seems only logical that a better business practice would be to discuss the topic during negotiations before unilaterally cutting the program

How should we proceed? The Lewiston Porter Board of Education was informed by counsel that the district would be in violation of State Education Department regulations which require mentoring. It would be wasteful to hire young teachers and not provide them with the best professional practices and training that is available. In the long-term, student performance suffers.

The action taken by the Board of Education only serves to increase costs due to unnecessary legal fees. The public remains confused about this important issue, since the Board of Education action only creates more smoke and little light of truth about mentoring. Overall, the efficiency of the district declines due to wasted effort, and educational progress is again hampered by these pointless distractions.

When I began my duties as the LPUT president, I was encouraged by the statement on June 27, 2004, in the Niagara Gazette. Lou Palmeri stated, "There's not going to be any radical changes..... We don't want this us-versus-them type of attitude on the board. We want to get the cooperation of everybody and work as a team."

Unfortunately, recent actions by the Board of Education have left many teachers discouraged and dispirited. The lack of open communication and unilateral actions seem contradictory to the spirit of the June 27 comments. I sincerely hope that future actions by the Board of Education will return Lewiston Porter to our traditional collegial and professional atmosphere.