KOREATOWN : Berendo Intervention Program Is Assessed

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice recently toured Berendo Middle School to check on the progress of a program designed to keep youths out of trouble and in school.

The program, funded with a $100,000 federal grant through Community Projects for Restoration, pays for a probation officer at Berendo and another at John Muir Middle School.

Having a probation officer on campus “gives us an added dimension,” said Judi O’Sullivan, Berendo’s assistant principal in charge of counseling services. “We have our own counselors, but they have only so much clout. A probation officer can put pressure on parents and students who only listen to us up to a certain point.”

With a direct link to the court, a probation officer can compel juvenile probationers to attend school and impose sanctions not available to school counselors.

O’Sullivan said there has been a “big change” at Berendo since the program began in April, 1993.

“It’s really been an asset and done a lot for our campus,” she said.

Under the School Crime Suppression Program, probation officers supervise students attending school while on court-ordered probation and counsel others who are headed for trouble.

The program also involves schools that are not covered by the federal grant.

Eduardo Cordero, Berendo’s deputy probation officer, encourages parents to take a greater interest in their children’s activities and works with several community organizations, such as Para Los Ninos, to get families additional counseling or assistance.

Students must run a gantlet of trouble every day to and from the school at 1157 S. Berendo St.

“There are four gangs and drug dealers within a block of the school in every direction,” Cordero said.

Moreover, problems at home make children vulnerable to negative influences outside, he said.

“When a kid is acting out, it’s a symptom of family dysfunction.”

The Berendo Family Center, which offers tutoring for students and support groups, parenting classes and English classes for parents, is an integral part of the school’s strategy for crime prevention and intervention, he said.

Cordero and Annette Smith, the deputy probation officer at Muir, said they have noticed a decrease in suspensions and expulsions, improved attendance and grades and increased parental participation.

CPR, a post-riot federal initiative, targets social welfare and law enforcement needs in Pico-Union, Koreatown and South-Central through a variety of local projects.

Terree Bowers, a former U.S. attorney and now a special counsel for the Justice Department, said federal authorities will soon determine funding levels for the local CPR projects, including the Berendo and Muir schools’ School Crime Suppression programs.