Bill Text: NJ S1777 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes three-year pilot program for school-based mentoring in public schools located within 1,000 feet of gunfire.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S1777 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S1777-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes three-year pilot program for school-based mentoring in public schools located within 1,000 feet of gunfire.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act establishing a three-year pilot program for the implementation of school-based mentoring in certain school districts and supplementing chapter 6 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section, "crisis zone" means an area within 1,000 feet of school property where gunfire occurred in the prior school year.
b. The Commissioner of Education shall 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 shall be to build emotional resilience and 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. The program is designed to improve the task orientation, behavior control, assertiveness, and peer social skills of participating students.
c. The commissioner shall select the Jersey City School District and six additional school districts with schools located in a crisis zone to participate in the pilot program. The six additional school districts selected by the commissioner shall include two districts in each of the southern, central, and northern regions of the State.
d. The commissioner shall 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 shall 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.
e. The commissioner is authorized to make grants to participating school districts in such amounts as the commissioner shall determine to assist the districts in the implementation of the pilot program.
2. It shall be the responsibility of a participating school to:
a. designate and train three to five mentors to facilitate the program. Each mentor shall be assigned to work with no more than 20 students;
b. identify students for the program who have problems in at least two of the following areas: behavioral development; social-emotional development; and on-task learning abilities in the school setting;
c. use the curriculum approved by the commissioner pursuant to section 1 of this act to deliver the program. The curriculum shall be offered slowly and sequentially in order to allow the student to absorb and understand the lesson and practice the new skills in the classroom setting; and
d. evaluate participating students at the beginning, mid-point, and completion of the curriculum in each of the following areas: recent disciplinary referrals and actions; task orientation; behavior control; assertiveness versus withdrawn behavior; and peer social skills.
3. Upon the conclusion of the pilot program, the commissioner shall report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the feasibility of implementing the program on a Statewide basis.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
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.
