The Batavia City School District is looking for mentors and volunteers to support a My Brother’s Keeper program at the Batavia Middle School and High School.
The program provides a safe and supportive space for boys and men of color and currently there are 10 students at Batavia High School and 4 at the Middle School involved.
After holding an informational session this past week at Robert Morris School, the program is moving forward with a parent meeting on Monday. A Program Kick Off event is planned for May 10, 2022, at Batavia High School at 6:00p.m.
My Brother’s Keeper Director and School Social Worker Lindsey Dailey, a 2009 graduate of Batavia High School, says the program has been in the works since the district received a grant last year.
“We’re definitely getting a good response, a few people showed up at the informational session looking for more information, they want to be a part of it,” says Dailey.
The program has taken a while to set up as the district needed to hire a school social worker to direct the program. Initially, the district could not find a candidate to start the program.
“They opened it up to teachers and Chris Cummings, Career and Tech teacher at the Middle School, and I volunteered to start something,” says Allison Chua, English teacher at the H.S. and My Brother’s Keeper Facilitator.
Cummings and Chua have reached out to Brandon Armstrong and Chez Rolle in the community. Cummings has been meeting with students at the Middle School.
“We have a very big attendance issue at the high school,” says Chua.
“We’re hoping to have kids enjoying something at school knowing they have to be present and will get them more motivated knowing that they have someone that’s encouraging them to go to school. Some kids won’t get up for school and they just won’t go. Parents go off to work and they just stay home, and we have a hard time getting attendance.”
Ideally, the district would like to have one mentor per student. Mentors are people that are connected with the Batavia community in some way. Chua says she hopes to get people in the community to be more involved so they are visible and can see the positive.
“I like them to know they have people they can relate to in the community that is not necessarily part of school. We try as teachers to reach out to the kids to let them know we are here for them, but what really happens is kids are reluctant to open up to administrators because they think they are going to get in trouble. We have to get into the community.”
Link to information about the program below: