Home > Parent Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines

Parent Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines 

Mission Statement

By supporting healthy relationships between responsible adults and promising children, it is the mission of Grand Area Mentoring to help students discover their potential, participate successfully in the academic and public worlds, and become lifelong learners.

Program Description and Overview

Mentoring brings young people together with caring individuals who offer guidance, support, and encouragement aimed at developing the competence and character of youth. Grand Area Mentoring recruits volunteer mentors from the community and completes a thorough application and screening process with each. Teachers, administrators, and parents recommend children for mentoring. The program is strictly voluntary; only if youth and family want to participate can they take part. Over the course of at least one year, a mentor and mentee will meet weekly at school, usually following the school day, to establish a friendship. They might play games, work on projects, do arts or crafts, talk, or go off school grounds during parent-approved field trips. Over time, most mentored youth earn higher grades, get along better with peers and teachers, and like school more.

Goals, Obligations, and Roles

The mentee shall commit to at least a year of participation and foster a respectful relationship with his/her mentor. Mentees should notify the mentor if unable to make a scheduled meeting. Students should follow all guidelines covered by the mentor coordinator during the mentee training. The mentee is obliged to tell an adult if there are any problems or uncomfortable issues related to mentoring.

The mentor shall commit to at least a year of participation and foster a respectful relationship with his/her mentee, introduce age-appropriate activities and topics suitable to the school environment, use a strength-based approach to trumpet youth successes and bolster confidence and psychological outlook, keep children safe, maintain confidentiality and appropriate conduct at all times, sustain collaborative relationship with mentee’s parents or guardians, and follows all program policies and procedures.

The parent or guardian shall support the relationship and follow program guidelines. Parents/guardians should help their children meet program expectations. Please notify the mentor if your son/daughter is sick and unable to meet at a scheduled time, or if your family plans to be out of town. Consistency is key. Never use mentoring as leverage or punishment; your son/daughter should be able to count on meeting with his/her mentor regardless of other life circumstances. The parent/guardian should cultivate a professional relationship with the mentor – being open to communication, volunteering new infor-mation or circumstances pertinent to the child’s wellbeing, and not asking for gifts, money, or favors.

Closure

Eventually your son/daughter’s mentoring relationship will come to a close. That’s natural. Grand Area Mentoring will celebrate the successes of time spent together and notify parents/guardians of the relationship’s end. Contact between mentor and adult after closure is not the responsibility of Grand Area Mentoring.

Program & Mentor Contact Information

Program Director: Daniel McNeil  435-260-9646 grandareamentoring@gmail.com

Mentor Coordinator: Megan McGee 435-260-9645 grandareamentoring@gmail.com

Guidelines

  1. Call your child’s mentor if unable to meet on a scheduled mentoring day. If you need to discuss your child with his/her mentor, please do so out of the presence of your child. If there is something the mentor should know, call him/her when your child is away.
  2. In general, mentors are not allowed to transport students. If you are scheduled to pick your child up after mentoring, please be on time.
  3. Notify Grand Area mentoring when you have a change of phone or address.
  4. On occasion, let the mentor know that his/her efforts are appreciated and help your child be grateful to the mentor. Cards, letters, or birthday wishes go a long way.
  5. Please do not ask your child’s mentor to provide transportation, buy presents, be the disciplinarian, or baby-sit for your family.
  6. A mentoring relationship is between child and mentor. Refrain from inserting yourself into their special one-on-one time or infringing upon its territory. However, **if you feel uncomfortable with any aspect of the match, or if there is something about the relationship that concerns you, contact the program immediately.**
  7. Please do not deprive you child of a field trip or mentoring session with his/her mentor as a means of discipline.
  8. The success or failure of a match depends upon the cooperation of all interested parties. Your support of mentoring will help your child grow. If you have any concerns or questions, please call Grand Area Mentoring. We look forward to working alongside you to help your child succeed.

 

Parent/Guardian Contract

By allowing my son/daughter to participate in the Grand Area Mentoring Program, I agree to:

  • Allow my child to participate in the Grand Area Mentoring Program and to be matched with a Grand Area Mentoring volunteer
  • Call the mentor if my child is unable to make a meeting on a scheduled mentoring day
  • Notify the program if we have any changes in address or phone number, or notify the program in advance if we plan to move out of the area
  • Follow and encourage my child to follow all rules and guidelines as outlined by the program director, mentee training, program policies, and this contract
  • Support my child in this match by allowing him/her to meet at least weekly with a mentor while school is in session
  • Openly communicate with program staff as needed
  • Inform the program if I observe any difficulties or have areas of concern that may arise in the relationship
  • Provide the program with health information for my child, such as new medications, conditions, dietary restrictions, or behavioral plans

I understand that upon closure, contact between my child and his/her mentor will be beyond the scope of the Grand Area Mentoring. Following the closure and until my son/daughter reaches adulthood, I will be responsible for their future contact with the mentor. I agree to follow this contract and fulfill reasonable requests by the program director to support the health of my child’s mentoring experience.