Someone To Watch Over Me
San Diego's Garfield High School is the nation's oldest alternative public school, designed to give more attention and discipline to troubled teenagers. Through a pilot project, the school encourages probation officers to be mentors by bringing them right on campus. CBS News Correspondent Russ Mitchell spoke with one of the students and his probation officer for The Class Of 2000 series.
Like a lot of kids at Garfield, Rigoberto Lopez fell in with the wrong crowd. "I thought that hanging out with those guys would make me a somebody, but it really turned me into a troublemaker," says Rigoberto.
He was himself in trouble when he met someone that he could look up to. And that seems to have made a big difference in his life. The person is his probation officer.
"They realize that I am here, and that I am as approachable as the counselors or the teachers here," says Lopez' probation officer, Matt McKnight. His office is right next to the other student advisors in school.
"Officially, I'm still the probation officer," says McKnight, "but I like to change hats and serve as a big brother or a mentor."
Lopez met McKnight last year after he was found guilty of defacing 150 school windows with graffiti. His perspective is different now. "I think back and it just hurts me to find out how much pain I caused my family. I put a lot of stress on my Mom. It was hard," says Lopez.
One recent day, he found himself back in court with his lawyer, this time for possessing colored markers, a violation of his probation agreement.
His lawyer says Lopez' overall performance and behavior have been exemplary, and the district attorney agrees that "other than this one incident, he has done very well, so the people see this as a blip on the radar screen."
Lopez says he needed this second chance, because "the first time I made a mistake, and now I just want to turn my life around."
McKnight says Rigo Lopez is now on the road to success, and "the school and everything is providing the barriers to keep him on that straight line to succeed."
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