The Alliance TeamMates Mentoring Program chapter, which has been running for 20 years, is set to close unless action is taken to save the program.
At the Alliance School Board meeting on Monday evening, Superintendent Dr. Troy Unzicker said during his report that the Alliance TeamMates Chapter was shuttering its operations. He said he participated in a Zoom meeting with Dr. Tom Osborne, who founded the program, the state director and the regional director.
“They informed me that they were unable to have contact with our TeamMates chapter, and that they had received word that they were done; they were closing,” said Unzicker. “News to me. They are basically asking the school to pick up the program. They don’t want to lose a program. They want to make sure it’s able to continue.”
Unzicker said he received an email on Monday from TeamMates Coordinator Tearza Mashburn announcing that Jan. 31 would be the last day for the program.
“The email I received today said that letters had been sent out to the matches letting them know it’s going to end,” Unzicker said.
Unzicker said to keep the program alive, the school would have to pay a fee of $1,250 a year and additional $500 per year for background checks on the matches.
“We would have to maintain a separate board over the TeamMates, and I have the list of board members who were on it before. So, I don’t know if any of them would have an interest if we continued. The major change for us, we were providing $60 a match, which last semester was $1,200, which covers most of their fees. The major portion they were picking up, I think through fundraising, was the TeamMates salary,” said Unzicker.
Unzicker suggested meeting with the personnel committee to discuss the possibility of the school taking over the program.
Unzicker noted that he had messaged former School Board Member Karen Trussell, who was the board’s representative for TeamMates, to find out more information.
“She did tell me they shut down for financial reasons,” Unzicker said. “I think the mentoring program, some sort of mentoring program, needs to take place. TeamMates is well established. As much as we were putting into it already, it might make sense for us to pick it up, but I’d like to have a conversation with one of the committees before I commit to it.”