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Former New York First Lady Matilda Raffa Cuomo, wife of the late Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, met with administrators at Edmund J. O’Neal Middle School of Excellence on Friday to revitalize the school’s participation in a longstanding mentoring program she started in the mid-1980s.

The New York State Mentoring Program screens and trains adult mentors to work one-to-one with students for an hour a week at their schools. In the City School District of Â鶹ӰÒô, the program provides mentors to Arbor Hill Elementary School, Giffen Memorial Elementary School and Sheridan Preparatory Academy. It will restart at O’Neal this winter.

Joining Mrs. Cuomo were New York State Mentoring Program Executive Director Brad DiPietro and Advisory Council Member Frank Di Berardino. They met with O’Neal Principal David Bernsley, Assistant Principals Timitra Rose and April Stokes, and School Improvement Principal Sophia Newell. Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Lori McKenna also joined the meeting.

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