Senate Bill S2656

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2656

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
establishing a mentor for youth program within the department of
education

 PURPOSE :

Establishes a mentor for youth program for middle school and high
school students at high risk to engage in violent acts or drop out of
school.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

§ 141 Mentor youth Program. 1. There is hereby established within the
department a mentor for youth program. The focus and goal of such
program shall be preventing violence and decreasing the dropout rate
among male and female middle school and high school students. Such
program shall emphasize proven core values to facilitate its goals.
Such core values shall include, but not be limited to, integrity,
accountability, self-determination, the positive expression and
management of anger, visionary goal setting and respect for others.
Such program shall be administered in school districts throughout the
state that the commissioner determines have a significant number of
students at high risk to engage in violent acts or drop out of school.
In the development and implementation of such program, the department
              

shall, in consultation with the office of children and family services
and any other agency of the state the department deems necessary,
incorporate nontraditional and state-of-the-art teaching and mentoring
methods that have proven effective in positively influencing such
at-risk students. In addition, such program shall incorporate the use
of sports, recreational activities and the fine arts to the extent
that such disciplines a re deemed necessary I achieving the goals of
such program. 2. The commission shall report to the governor and the
legislature three years and five years after the effective date of
this section setting forth the impact such mentor for youth program
has had on such high risk students. 3. The commissioner shall
promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement
the provisions of this section.

 EXISTING LAW :

No

 JUSTIFICATION :

This bill is part of a three (3) bill packet of legislation that will
be going forward, referred to as the "Benny Lyde Packet" addressing
the ever rising volume of youth violence in certain high risk areas;
due to a failure to provide of accurate information to our high risk
youth, mental health issues surrounding past traumas and a lack of
psychological anchors and adequate mentoring during key periods in
certain youths development. The packet will also address the lack of
manpower to investigate and see to fruition the capture of those
guilty of committing such crimes.

Benny Lyde was an up and coming young man who had studied business and
accounting and had aspirations of going into politics. Benny was shot
and 3 months later died at the age of 21 in 2005.

The police determined that he had been shot in retaliation for
something in which he was not involved. A friend had beaten someone
up; that person's friend could not find him, so he found Benny
instead. The police and his parents investigated and searched for his
killer for 2 and 1/2 years. Benny's younger brother Prince, who was
inseparable from him- spent many days watching his brother lying in
the hospital, and began coming to the conclusion that doing the right
thing "didn't pay off."

Communities need all the pieces to address this ongoing problem. They
need their youth educated with the correct information, they need
mentors for the children to talk to and assist them with the correct
way to mediate disagreements and problems that may arise, they need
counselors to assist when violence does strike home and they need
manpower to assist in finding the culprits who commit these acts. We
are in hopes that this bill along with the other two bills
incorporated in this packet will begin that process.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Bill

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

TBD - Federal funding may be available

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

TBD

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately