USD 235 to implement youth mentoring program

Young students at West Bourbon Elementary School in Uniontown now have the chance to participate in a unique learning opportunity.

A youth mentoring program in USD 235, in which about 87 seventh and eighth grade students at Uniontown Junior Senior High School are able to teach and guide more than 250 kindergarten through sixth grade students at West Bourbon Elementary School, has been very successful, USD 235 Superintendent Randy Rockhold said during the USD 235 Board of Education's regular meeting on Monday.

The main focus of the program is to help young students with academics -- primarily reading, and to provide those youngsters with role models they can look up to, Rockhold said.

"The mentoring program is working very well," Rockhold told the board. "We've just now begun to allow the (junior high) students to work in the classroom with (WBE) students. It's effective and it works because the (older) student will put his or her arm around the (younger) student and say, 'I'm going to help you,'" Rockhold said. "I hope it's as positive for the WBE kids as it has been for the junior high kids."

Beginning this school year, Rockhold took over duties as principal for seventh and eighth grade students at UJSHS and will also serve as the district's top administrator, while UJSHS Principal Tracy Smith will continue providing administrative duties for ninth through 12th grade students.

Once every three days during the school week, the older junior high students walk to WBE, which is located across the street from UJSHS, to help the younger students learn about educational opportunities at UJSHS and how to interact with their peers, as well as to help the youngsters with their studies and to learn about life in general.

Through this process, the young students, in turn, learn to grow and develop as young adults and to appreciate the chance to further their education in junior and senior high school, rather than be intimidated once they get there, Rockhold said.

Junior high students have also been busy recently helping to keep school facilities clean during and after school hours, he said.

"This is no offense to the high school kids, but after lunch, you can't even tell they (junior high students) were there," Rockhold said.

Also on Monday, the board received a list of retired district teachers since the unification of USD 235 in 1966. Later this year, district officials plan to reward long-time teachers for their continued years of service to the district, but have debated the last few months on how far back the district should go in choosing deserving teachers to be rewarded.

Two separate awards will be presented; one for teachers who worked at least 25 years in the district, and another for teachers who worked their entire career in USD 235, Rockhold said.

Three current U-235 teachers have taught for at least 25 years in Kansas, while two of those teachers have served that entire time teaching in the district. The district will go all the way back to 1966 -- the year that U-235 consolidated -- in recognizing both current and retired teachers, Rockhold said.

Teachers who taught at least 15 years in the district and then retired will also receive awards as tokens of the districts appreciation for their years of service, he said. The eventual goal is to hang a plaque featuring the names of all long-time district teachers somewhere within the school, he said. The matter will be reviewed during a future board meeting.