Can you explain Wicomico's proposal to provide new principal mentoring?

There has been tremendous interest in our proposal to offer mentoring support for our new administrators next fall. Because of this, some questions and concerns have been raised. The following list is provided to answer some of the questions that have been raised and to clarify some of the misunderstandings that have recently arisen.

The funds being utilized do not represent any new money or new positions within our budget but, instead, are existing funds that have been reallocated to this effort.

The individuals who will be our mentors will not be paid a salary but instead will be paid a small consulting fee that is not at all comparable in amount to a salary. Though their duties will be structured with respect to expectations much like our current new teacher mentoring program, there is not the need to have a full or part time position as there are far fewer new administrators.

The candidates for all of our administrative positions have been and continue to be very strong. We are trying to provide a little extra support in the first year so that they can benefit from the years of experience and vast knowledge possessed by our long-time principals.

By using our long-time principals, it allows our county the opportunity to continue to benefit from their skills and expertise in a new way even after they retire.

Like many of the roles in public education, the principalship has grown in terms of accountability, workload, pressure, and complexity. In fact, it has joined a number of teaching areas on the critical shortage list. This is also the reason that we strongly believe it would be ineffective to simply pair a new administrator with someone in another school. We hope we can provide support that assists new principals in coping and succeeding in this challenging environment. This is especially true when considering the number of veteran staff that we have in many key positions and the transition that we will undertake in the next few years.

This type of support for administrators is endorsed by the Maryland State Department of Education as part of the Maryland Leadership Framework. It is not a new concept and is one that is used in many areas throughout the country.