NY A08040

Authorizes the New York Department of Education to establish a high school peer mentoring pilot program in all public high schools statewide

Requires schools to complete preparatory work before the 2024-2025 school year, including reviewing existing mentoring models, developing recruitment and screening tools, creating training materials, and designing evaluation methods

Mandates implementation of the peer mentoring program during the 2024-2025 school year with two-hour staff training, mentor onboarding, continuous support and enrichment training, and relationship mapping exercises to ensure all students have meaningful adult-youth connections

Requires submission of a program assessment with improvement recommendations to the commissioner and creation of a report to legislative leaders by August 31, 2025

Expires and is repealed January 1, 2026