Lincoln Seeks Mentoring Volunteers

LINCOLN — Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District, has said it before and she suspects she will talk about it many more times over the coming months.

Spears plans to kick off a mentoring program in the fall to help students in need of extra attention.

She attended several workshops on mentoring at a Bright Futures conference and was especially impressed with a program in Mexico, Mo. Mentors meet with 200 students once a week during their lunch period.

Spears addressed the monthly meeting of the Lincoln Community Alliance and asked those present to consider signing up as a mentor.

She already has a list with volunteers’ names but wants a lot more people to sign up.

Several suggested to Spears that mentors meet twice monthly, instead of weekly, noting the time commitment on a weekly basis may be hard for some community members who work full-time.

“This is a huge commitment to the kid,” said Heather Keenen, president of Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If you can’t come for the long haul, you probably shouldn’t do it. You can’t start and then bail on that kid.”

Spears proposes mentors for children in kindergarten - seventh grade. She said studies on mentoring p rog rams show that fewer kids go to see the school nurse and it helps with attendance.

“These kids want attention,” Spears said. “We want their needs being met and this includes emotional needs.”

According to Spears, Lincoln has children who are being reared by grandparents, some with one or both parents in jail and in other cases, it is suspected that parents are involved with illegal drugs.

“We have lots of kids who would need this,” Spears said.

A mentoring program would be the next step for the district’s Bright Futures program.

“Our whole goal of Bright Futures is that we eliminate any barriers so kids can learn and go on and do better things,” she added.

Jana Claybrook, district executive master teacher, said the school proposes mentors eat lunch with their students and eat the food being served in the lunchroom that day.

Visitors are not allowed to bring in food. In addition, she said the school would not want mentors to bring money or gifts to their students.

The time commitment would be 30 minutes during a child’s lunch period.

Anyone interested in being a mentor can email Spears at mspears@lincolncsd.com.

Spears