By Sean Leviashvili

With the Boston public school system in danger of failing, Boston city councilor John Tobin hopes to implement a mentoring program and partnership between the city’s universities and its 144 public schools.

John Tobin, city councilor for District 6 in Boston, which includes Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Roslindale, said he will propose his ideas to City Council, though the hearing is not yet scheduled.

“People tell me all the time that you have one chance to influence your kids and make a positive impact on them – many say it’s between the ages of zero and nine,” Tobin said.

If approved, Tobin said he plans to implement a program in which Boston universities would essentially adopt different public schools in an effort to improve the school system.

Tobin said students who are failing in public schools may be encouraged to attend college if they’re exposed to a mentoring program.

Twenty percent of students dropped out of the Boston Public School system in 2006, according to the most recent data available on the school system’s website. Tobin said the rate has most likely increased since then. There are approximately 16,000 people in Boston between the ages of 16 to 25 who have dropped out of high school, without obtaining a GED, or are unemployed, he said.

Caitlyn Keckeissen, a junior English and secondary education major said Tobin’s plan was an effective way to spread monetary resources.

“In a city that has so many resources to host secondary education students, it’s disappointing to see those resources not available to public schools. [Tobin’s plan] is a great way of making them more accessible to younger students.”

In an increasingly competitive working environment, where standards for employment are higher than ever, Tobin said it is important that students in the Boston public schools understand the importance of education, and a mentoring program would help move toward that goal.

“The program would not just function to raise test scores,” Tobin said. “[The schools] need mentors that can let the students know that school doesn’t end in tenth grade, it doesn’t even end in twelfth grade. Education is essential just to compete in this economy.”

With the implementation of this program, Tobin said college students would become more involved in the lives of children and teenagers in Boston.

Tobin said he hopes his plans would foster a competition between the different partnerships that would be established through his proposed plan.

“I’d like to create some type of competition among the schools in Boston,” Tobin said. “Not just in data and test scores but anecdotally. I want everyone to raise their game.”

The plan is similar to other programs that enforce the same principles in programs like “Posse Boston,” the “Stepping Stone Foundation” and the “Step Up” initiative.

Claire Duggan, associate director at the Center for the Enhancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CESAME) at Northeastern, works with various “Step Up” schools, including the Mary E. Curley School, a middle school in Jamaica Plain.

The “Step Up” initiative involves mentoring that does not occur on college grounds, she said, which limits liability. Part of Tobin’s plan involves an increased level of inclusion for non-college students on college campuses, like Northeastern, Boston University and Boston College.

Northeastern has already shown openness to the idea, Tobin said, by opening campus events to the outside community.

“If Northeastern were to [increase inclusion], it would have to be done with the families directly,” Duggan said. “It would be an effort on the university to expand campuses and show what we have to offer. I applaud the notion but it must be thought through.”

Keckeissen said she thinks exposing students to higher-level education would be beneficial for both college students and students enrolled in public schools in Boston. As a service-learning teaching assistant, Keckeissen referred many students to the “Step Up” initiative.

“It’s another way we can open up a resource,” she said. “It is a way of giving back to the community.”

Keckeissen said Tobin’s plan was an effective way to spread monetary resources.

“In a city that has so many resources to host secondary education students, it’s disappointing to see those resources not available to public schools. [Tobin’s plan] is a great way of making them more accessible to younger students.”

While the plan is a way to expose Boston’s youth to college education and college life, Tobin’s plan would not result in a conflict with Northeastern’s regular schedules, like sporting events.

“There would never be a situation where the Huskies would have to reschedule their home game, that would be ridiculous,” Tobin said. “But it would be great if maybe more [non-college students] knew about them and attended them.”

The father of two young children, Tobin said he feels that too often children and education are neglected, and efforts must be taken to change this.

“If you don’t expand [children’s] horizons you lose them. A lot of it is family life but a lot of it is the education system, we have to ask ourselves: are we investing enough in our children?”