Bill > S4345

Introduced Session

This bill directs the Commissioner of Education to establish a three-year pilot program for the implementation of school-based mentoring in public schools located in a crisis zone. The purpose of the pilot program is to improve the social-emotional and behavioral skills of young children in grades kindergarten through three who are at risk for mental health disorders and substance abuse. Under the bill, the commissioner will select the Jersey City School District and 6 additional school districts with schools located in a crisis zone to participate in the pilot program. A crisis zone is defined in the bill as an area within 1,000 feet of school property where gunfire occurred in the prior school year. The commissioner is directed to adopt a curriculum for the program that includes a series of hierarchically-ordered skill trainings in weekly, 25 minute one-on-one sessions. The curriculum must address the: monitoring of one's own and others' emotions; building resilience and gaining effective coping skills to deal with complex emotions; and skills for maintaining control and equilibrium. The commissioner is authorized to make grants to participating districts in such amounts as the commissioner determines to assist the school districts in the implementation of the pilot program. Under the bill, a participating school must: · designate and train three to five mentors to facilitate the program; · identify students for the program who have problems in certain developmental areas; · use the curriculum approved by the commissioner to deliver the program; and · evaluate participating students at the beginning, mid-point, and completion of the curriculum. This bill is modeled on the Rochester Resilience Project, which has shown promising results in improving the emotional regulation of at-risk children through the provision of targeted mentoring instruction.

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Ronald Rice (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee (on 01/06/2020)

Official Document