New Options Arise for Young Offenders

Six months ago, Danny was a teen on the fast track to trouble, skipping school, smoking dope and taking “G-rides,” street slang for grand theft auto.

On Wednesday, though, the reserved 15-year-old talked about his search for a new path through an Orange County pilot program that offers some jailed youths a chance to live and learn out of custody.

“Life is about choices, that’s what they tell us here,” said Danny, referring to the Options School, which opened in February. “There’s the wrong road and the good road. We all get to pick.”

Danny is one of about 40 youths from Garden Grove and Santa Ana who have been diverted from Juvenile Hall custody into the Options program, a joint effort by the county’s Probation Department, Department of Education and Juvenile Court.

The program, operating from a business park on Euclid Street in Garden Grove, is an all-day school supplemented by counseling and job-training programs. Only nonviolent offenders are candidates. Probation counselors and a police officer are on site all day, but the atmosphere is more community center than detention hall.

Youths in the program proudly gave a tour Wednesday of their three classrooms during an open house celebrating the first completed session of the 90-day program.

Funded by a federal grant, the Options program is both a way to relieve crowding in detention facilities and help young offenders change their ways, according to Chief Probation Officer Michael Schumacher.

“We also bring in the parents, it’s a total-family program, and commitment to getting these young lives back under control,” Schumacher said. “A lot of times we tell these kids, ‘Don’t do that,’ but we never tell them what they can do. So here we’re trying to give them some options.”

Some youths, like 15-year-old Judee, said they were stunned by the promise of the program.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I liked it a lot,” she said. “It’s better than in the hall, where they line you up and tell you to keep quiet and put your hands behind your back. Here, they treat you like a person.”

Offenders must attend the program six days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and also join their parents in attending night classes. Field trips and community service projects introduce the youngsters to new places and experiences, while computer education and life skills training prepares them for adult life.

So far, by all accounts, the program is working. Other than one fight on campus, there have been no significant disruptions on campus, said Leo Coffey, the program’s on-site supervisor.

About 20 students will finish up the inaugural session this month, program leaders said. Each of the youths and their parents stood before Frank F. Fasel, the presiding judge in Juvenile Court, when they applied for the program, and the jurist said Wednesday he hopes to see many more offenders find their way to Options.

“This can be an anchor for so many kids, a way for them to find some success,” Fasel said. “I see so much negative--we all do these days--so it’s nice when I get a chance to pat a youngster on the back and tell them they did a good job.”

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