Lockup learning

By Kerri Regan

June 27, 2000 Web posted at: 10:27 AM EDT (1427 GMT)

SHASTA COUNTY, California (Redding Record Searchlight) -- Students file into Mike Haworth's classroom, where an aide has already placed an orange folder full of schoolwork on each desk. Every folder is labeled with the teen's name and a reminder not to sketch graffiti on it.

Haworth issues a hearty "good morning" and tells a girl to pass out the pencils, which will be counted before the students are dismissed. Disappearances now can mean danger later.

Before the students in jail-issued T-shirts and sweat pants have a chance to start chatting, Haworth explains their assignment. They get right to work.

The three classrooms at Shasta County juvenile hall serve a constantly changing mix of students accused of everything from shoplifting to sexual assault. While the bulk of the inmates study in portable classrooms outside the hall's fence, a handful of dangerous inmates attend class inside the secured building.

In the same classroom are high school graduates and illiterates, fifth-graders and high schoolers, kids who have been there for two days and some who have been jailed for six months.

The diversity poses a lofty challenge for teachers who must educate all of them.

Before school each morning, probation officers meet with teachers and aides to tell them about any problems that arose overnight and to let them know about new students.

Each class has about 17 students, a teacher and an aide. A Probation Department aide leads students to and from class and stays in the classroom to watch for discipline problems.

Many inmates are products of poor parenting, English teacher Deb DeWitt said. Others got involved with dangerous peer groups. Some have been bounced among group homes all their lives. Many have been in the hall before.

They need a chance to become better people while they're still young, she said.

"They're just kids," DeWitt said. "A lot of people say, 'Oh my God, you work at juvenile hall.' Yeah, a lot of them made some really huge mistakes. . . . They're not horribly wicked."

Math and health teacher Rich Valles agreed.

"These kids, they're kind of neat," Valles said with a smile. "I can joke with them, but I get a lot of work out of them."

For some students, it's the first time they've ever attended school daily (and sober), eaten three square meals a day and gone to bed at a decent hour in a safe environment.

"The whole day and evening at juvenile hall mimics what daily life is like in a normal family, what life should be like," said Deborah Botts, division director of juvenile hall. "Every one of these kids can be successful if the expectations are clear and they know you mean what you say. They need consistency and boundaries."

Incarcerated students get out of their cells to attend school, so they look forward to it, said Haworth, who teaches computers and history. If they act up in class, they're locked back up.

"The beauty of this place is for a lot of kids, this is the best they've ever done in school," Haworth said.

DeWitt said she's watched students go from illiteracy to a high school reading level. Some are motivated to learn to read because there's little else to do in their cell when they're locked down, DeWitt said.

Lessons continue after school. Daily activities range from substance abuse prevention programs to art. They also talk about race relations, violence prevention and victim awareness.

"We like to remind them about empathy. They tend to depersonalize the person they victimized," Botts said.

Building good citizens is Haworth's goal.

"I just want to teach character and values. If you can get them to learn that other stuff, that's great," Haworth said. "I want them to be disciplined to do their work and respect each other. So many of these kids don't have a clue what this means. . . . I'm a firm believer that one good role model in a family can really turn a kid's life around."

One thing most of the incarcerated kids have in common is persistence, Botts said.

"They're feisty," Botts said. "They're so committed to doing the things they want to do, and so am I. They're bright, they're funny and they have an opinion. We want to take that intellect and turn it where it needs to go."

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