By Shannon Lukens.

Moffat County School District has received a grant from the Colorado Department of Education for $74,372. It is from the Mentor Grant Program, to be used to improve and expand the teacher mentorship program currently in the district.

A Mentorship Program Coordinator will be hired to help train and support new teachers through mentor partnerships with veteran teachers within the district.

 

Press release from Moffat County School District; Aug. 23, 2023.

Moffat County School District receives state grant funding to improve teacher mentorship program

Craig, Colorado — Moffat County School District has secured funding through a Colorado Department of Education grant to improve and expand its teacher mentorship program.

 

The CDE grant totals $74,372 and is through a grant called Mentor Grant Program. It is the first time MCSD has received this grant. The funding will be used to strengthen and expand an existing program in the district that works to onboard, train and support new teachers through mentor partnerships with veteran teachers within the district. It will include hiring a Mentorship Program Coordinator position, who will manage the newly more-robust programming to better prepare the district’s new teachers to provide excellent educational opportunities to Moffat County students.

 

“I am so pleased and grateful for Moffat County School District to be the beneficiary of this very thoughtful allocation of funding through the state department of education,” said superintendent Jill Hafey. “I’m very proud of the work we do already to support our new teachers, whether they may be new to the district, newly licensed or working toward licensing through our TEACH teacher certification program. Our incredible veteran educators have stepped up to the plate to be a huge support to these new teachers, and it’s made us better across the board as we seek to educate our community’s children better and better. This will make us even more capable and powerful as we work to grow our own and strengthen from within.”

 

The grant is a one-year allocation that can be applied for again next summer. The funding will have the following impacts:

• Increased stipend capacity to pay mentor teachers for time spent outside of class hours mentoring new teachers (estimated 550 hours in a given school year, half of the total 1,100 hours required to run the program, but assuming about half of hours are fulfilled during school hours).
• Hourly pay provided for mentees for time spent in mentorship outside of school hours.
• Additional substitute teacher hours to allow for mentors and mentees to observe one another more regularly during class time.
• Addition of a Grant Program Coordinator position (to be posted on moffatsd.org in the very near future) that will manage the program and other awarded grant programs and maximize mentorship time and substitute usage.

 

In the end, the main beneficiaries are the students of Moffat County, who will be taught by better-prepared, better-supported, better-trained educators from top to bottom in terms of experience level. This is in supporting the mission of Moffat County schools to educate and inspire students to thrive in an environment of change.