Student Voice Project Mentor- INTERNAL CANDIDATES ONLY, [SY 2025-2026] 2 per school

Student Voice Project Mentor- INTERNAL CANDIDATES ONLY SY 2025-2026 2 per school

Salem Public Schools (SPS) is committed to amplifying student voices through our Student Voice Project (SVP) initiative. For the 2025-2026 school year we will enhance mentorship capacity across the district building on the progress of the previous year. This initiative will focus on creating meaningful connections through Developmental Relationships (DR) a framework from the Search Institute and advancing student-led change through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). The goal is to engage students in driving transformational change within their school communities.

Position Overview

As a Student Voice Project (SVP) Mentor you will work closely with student leaders throughout the school year as part of an after-school program. Program mentors will have the flexibility to structure their program to suit each schools individual culture and capacity. Your role will be to guide students through the YPAR process helping them to continue the research from 2024-2025 as students identify and address issues in their school communities. Mentors will support students in completing research benchmarks culminating in presentations of their findings at Student Voice Project Panels and an end-of-year Student Voice Summit in May 2026.

Key Responsibilities

As a mentor you will be expected to take ownership of the following key responsibilities throughout the year:

• Program Recruitment & Management: Recruit a cohort of student leaders to participate in the weekly after-school program manage their registration handle family communication and when necessary collaborate with community partners.
• Student Mentorship: Build trust and developmental relationships with a diverse group of students guiding them through the YPAR process from identifying an issue to developing a research project.
• Research & Presentation Support: Support students as they; develop a research topic using the Five-Why Protocol conduct a mixed-method approach to research and prepare their findings for presentation to school stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Organize and invite school leadership to 1-2 Stakeholder Panels where students can share their progress and collaborate to receive feedback.
• Professional Collaboration: Engage in ongoing collaboration with Student Voice Lead Mentors receiving professional development and individualized check-ins throughout the year.

Commitment

This role requires a dedicated commitment to ensure the success of the students and the program. Mentors are expected to:

• Lead weekly after-school programming with a group of student leaders with programs beginning the week of October 6th 2025.
• Participate in professional development and regular check-ins with the SVP leadership team which includes:
• Fall Session: Monday September 22nd 2025 from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
• Winter Session: Monday December 8th 2025 from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
• Spring Session: Monday March 9th 2026 from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
• 1-2 check-in meetings with a SVP Leadership Team member.
• Mentor students through key milestones ensuring their active engagement and growth in the project.
• Participate in quarterly Student Voice Project Panels and assist in preparing students for the end-of-year Summit scheduled for Thursday May 21st 2026 from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM.

Compensation

Mentors will be paid their contracted hourly rate for after-school time which includes:

• 6 hours of professional learning time
• 1-1.5 hours per week (program and prep time)
• The Student Summit on Thursday May 21st 2026 from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
• Staff are expected to complete a bi-weekly OST timesheet

What Youll Bring:

We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences are inspired by our mission and are highly motivated to change childrens lives through education. Youll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself your work and the people around you to the next level. We expect our SPS employees to:

• Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant diverse in background ethnicity language and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work.
• Hold high expectations for yourself students and colleagues You see potential in all especially our SPS students and maintain high expectations for achievement while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations modeling SPS values and seeking opportunities to continuously improve.
• Build authentic caring relationships with colleagues students and families You build strong relationships across students families and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS. You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning.
• Embrace feedback You are a reflective practitioner who learns from mistakes and challenges and uses them as opportunities for professional development. You model persistence and a growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race color religion national origin pregnancy gender identity sexual orientation marital/civil union status ancestry place of birth age citizenship status veteran status political affiliation genetic information or disability as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.