Citing Drawbacks, L.A. Teachers Shy From Mentor Roles

For Patricia Lowe, a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School in Burbank, the past year has been hectic but personally fulfilling.

A panel of her peers and administrators made Lowe a mentor teacher, a job that involves coaching new instructors, giving teaching demonstrations and explaining new educational techniques.

“It’s a stimulating experience for me,” Lowe said. “When we’re in the classroom all day . . . it’s difficult to see what’s going on around us. This is making me a better educator; it allows teachers to go out and see more.”

Isabelle Wiefel, a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who has taught at Fenton Avenue Elementary School in Lake View Terrace for 16 years, is a mentor this summer at a school in the Crenshaw area.

Commute Would Hinder Ability

Although Wiefel is enthusiastic about the program, she said the hourlong drive from her Northridge home would hamper her ability to be a “really good teacher” if she had to do it on a regular basis.

“A lot of my friends haven’t applied for that reason. There’s that fear they’d be putting in a 1 1/2-hour commute,” she said.

The two views illustrate contrasts in the mentor teacher program, which is meeting with success in smaller San Fernando Valley area school districts while facing difficulties in the giant Los Angeles school district.

Created by the 1983 state education reform law, the mentor teacher program rewards superior teachers with $4,000 stipends for sharing their skills with other instructors.

Applications for the program were open to any credentialed, permanent classroom teacher with substantial recent teaching experience.

Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, said the program was designed to give extra money to the best teachers and to allow them to “have more impact within the system” by coaching other teachers and improving the quality of instruction.

‘A Win-Win Idea’

“Everyone benefits,” Honig said. “It’s a win-win idea.”

But while teachers are competing fiercely to be chosen as mentors in the smaller school districts, almost 300 positions in Los Angeles are going begging, said Dan Isaacs, assistant superintendent for the city’s schools.

The reason, district officials said, is that many Los Angeles teachers are wary of being sent out of their region to work as mentors in inner-city schools. Also, the logistics of implementing the program throughout the Los Angeles district--which encompasses 644 schools scattered within 708 square miles--is a difficult task.

By contrast, officials in the smaller districts say their mentor programs are successful because teachers work within a known geographical area and often consult closely and informally with administrators to implement the program.

Simi Program Hailed

Officials at Simi Valley Unified School District in Ventura County, for instance, say they are quite pleased with their program.

“It’s been a very positive thing,” Assistant Supt. Allan Jacobs said. “The teachers thrive on it, they’re encouraged by it and they share what they learn.”

In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, mentor teacher Craig Vaughan said he enjoyed last year’s stint so much that he is stepping down as chairman of his school’s social science department and taking an $800 pay cut this year so he can devote more time to being a mentor.

The program is working, Vaughan said, because the district supports its teachers and is willing to be flexible. “In smaller districts, teachers already know each other, there’s a built-in trust and familiarity and less reluctance to try something new,” he said.

In districts such as Burbank, Las Virgenes and Simi Valley, panels have been able to pick and choose from among the many teachers who applied. In Burbank, about 30 teachers applied for five positions last year, Assistant Supt. James Perino said.

L.A. Applicants Scarce

In Los Angeles, however, the district’s trouble in attracting applicants has caused some teachers to wonder if the program is attracting as many highly qualified individuals as it should.

Nominating panels, which must approve all mentor teachers, selected only 394 of the 1,101 teachers who applied last year, said Alice Bowen, assistant coordinator of the district’s mentor program. The district is looking for 286 more teachers to fill its remaining 680 mentor positions.

The Los Angeles Board of Education wants to use mentors to assist its growing number of inexperienced teachers, who are concentrated in the district’s southeast and South-Central areas. The district said it needs 2,500 more teachers by September.

Mentor teachers must be available to work anywhere in the district, a stipulation that many Valley teachers said has discouraged them from applying for the program.

“The transfer issue is very much a concern to Valley teachers,” said Maribeth Kelly, a mentor at Millikan Junior High School in Sherman Oaks. “If you live here, the thought of having to make that freeway drive makes you think twice.”

Transfers a Big Concern

Kelly, who has taught at Millikan for 23 years, said she thinks transfers are a bigger concern than the district is willing to admit.

“When I talk to other teachers, the first thing they always ask is, ‘If I were to apply would I get transferred?’ ”

Because the question has been echoed by teachers throughout the city, the district has announced that it will try to limit transfers to schools in the same area.

However, Bowen said, the district cannot promise to assign teachers within their own regions for the 1985-86 school year. Assignments will be made late in the summer, when the district determines which regions have the most new teachers and thus the greatest need for mentors, she said.

Although state guidelines set general criteria for the program, school districts are free to establish their own requirements.

Some districts require mentors to work on specialized projects, such as developing lessons for computer courses. Others prefer trouble-shooters who can handle a variety of projects.

Many mentor teachers also have to log a specific number of hours or keep a time chart showing their activities.

The law says that up to 5% of teachers in a district can be mentors. However, state budget restrictions have prevented full funding of the program. Last year, the $30.8 million the governor budgeted for the program allowed about 3% of teachers to be chosen; for the coming school year, the mentor program has been allotted $44.7 million, which will allow about 4% to 5% of teachers to serve as mentors.

The funds provide school districts with $2,000 per mentor to cover administrative and support costs, in addition to the stipends. Sixty-two school districts in the state started mentor programs last year; this year 740 districts, or 72%, participated in the program.

For many teachers, the program is attractive because it helps improve salaries and career opportunities.

‘Made Me Grow’

Mary Jo Howe, a mentor teacher in the Simi Valley district, said she spent two semesters developing a program to help teachers work with slow learners.

“It’s made me grow as an individual,” she said.

In the Burbank Unified School District, mentor teachers were allowed to implement their own program, determine teacher needs and design workshops.

Burbank’s mentors said they are enthusiastic about the program because administrators urge them to hone their own career skills.

Regardless of whether they work in small districts or in the Los Angeles district, however, many instructors have one complaint: Those who teach all day and work as mentors during lunch, after school, on weekends and during holidays tend to burn out.

‘Isn’t Enough Time’

“My only criticism is that there isn’t enough time,” said Amelia Lett, a mentor based at Noble Avenue Elementary School in Sepulveda. Lett said that last school year the district gave her 23 days off to work with 15 new teachers, who she said could each have used a month of training.

In the Las Virgenes district, Rick Rezinas of Agoura High School said it is difficult to teach full time and devote enough time and energy to the mentor program. But Rezinas considers himself lucky: His principal taught Rezinas’ afternoon algebra class last spring, which gave Rezinas time to work as a mentor training teachers in computer use.

Wayne Johnson, president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, said the majority of mentor teachers in the Los Angeles district are frustrated because they do not have enough time for the program and because there are too many instructors who need training.

Discussions at an April UTLA conference attended by 100 mentor teachers convinced Johnson that the teachers should receive an extra planning period each day to accomplish everything expected of them. Johnson said the union has begun negotiations to obtain more planning time.

Extra Time Not Allowed

Although state law allows mentors to have as much as one-third of their day free from teaching, mentors in the Los Angeles district are allowed no extra time under their union contract.

School districts use the additional $2,000 per mentor they receive from the state to train mentors, hire substitutes and pay for administrative and support costs. But some mentors said that a shortage of substitutes makes it difficult for them to be released from their classes.

Roy Ingebrigtsen, director of instruction for one of the two school district regions in the Valley, said he could use more mentor teachers but does not know how many would be needed to train the influx of new teachers each year.

Los Angeles district teachers who work in the Valley said many new teachers are being sent to the Valley because of the increase in school-age population in such areas as San Fernando, Pacoima and Canoga Park. Since many of those teachers have little or no experience, they need the counseling and guidance that can be offered by mentors, school officials said.

“People think of the Valley as nice, middle-class homes,” teacher Wiefel said. “But there are culturally disadvantaged areas here just like South-Central Los Angeles. It’s in these areas that there’s a need for mentor teachers.”