Recently I served as Assistant Principal for the day at Meridian High School along with a number of other Meridianites, a very positive eye opening experience for me, the kind of experience that needs to be repeated again and again because it shows our schools in a light that is not always shown. In so many cases we focus on the negative and not the positive things that are being implemented in our districts, if you have recently driven down 23rd Ave at night as I have, boy it makes me fell really proud to see that Meridian High School campus all lite-up, looks just like a college campus.

Part of the things that we as MPSD parents should be proud of, is that New Ninth Grade complex at Meridian High Schools, a state of the art school that all parents should be extremely proud of and champion. These are the kind of improvements we at PPS-MLC are behind, and see with improvements like these being implemented in our schools we are on our way too a 21st century education system.

Students need to develop skills essential to everyday life, which are not usually part of the everyday educational processes. Mentoring will expose them to a group of professional men and women who have been recruited as mentors. The involvement of parents, teachers, pastors, and business professionals in guiding young people is extremely important to a community’s overall success and sustainability. Mentors should of course be carefully recruited and thoroughly screened through an extensive background check to ensure the safety of all children in the program.

They should have to follow a formal instructional guide that will ensure that they know what and how to present course material, as well as how to address the population they are serving and ideas on how to maximize their effectiveness..

Mentoring programs should be school-based. The purpose of such programs is to establish a one-on-one relationship with students to improve their self-esteem and enhance their interest in school. Mentoring is especially critical for children identified by school personnel as potential drop-outs or those not reaching their potential. Mentoring works to assist youth in developing their potential by providing healthy adult friendships that are professionally supervised and which bring training and support services. Mentors should be recruited and thoroughly screened to ensure the safety of the children in the program.

A strong mentoring program necessitates respect, tolerance, and a willingness to learn from our students. Mentoring is an extremely vital part of any successful academic/community based program. Students need to develop skills essential to everyday life, which are not usually part of the everyday educational processes. Mentoring will expose them to a group of professional men and women who have been recruited as mentors. Guiding young people is extremely important to a community’s overall success and sustainability.

Mentoring works to assist youth in developing their potential by providing healthy adult friendships that are professionally supervised and which bring training and support services. When done well, mentoring programs work and can be one tool used to stem the number of drop-outs in our districts.



Norbert D. Luster is president of

Parents for Public Schools, Meridian, Lauderdale County Chapter.