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Schools

'Sorry' surprises School Board

Two dozen teachers, families in tow, came to get honored. At least as many Hudson residents planned to angrily denounce the board's efforts to put a school in their back yard.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published January 30, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - People packed the Pasco County School Board meeting room.

Two dozen teachers, families in tow, came to get honored. At least as many Hudson residents planned to angrily denounce the board's efforts to put a school in their back yard.

Then there were two teenage boys, clad in jeans and T-shirts, sitting nervously in the front row. The St. Petersburg Times is withholding their names because of their ages.

They hadn't come to oppose a school site or, for that matter, to talk about anything on the board's plate. Rather, they came to apologize.

"I'm sorry for bringing drugs to school," one teen said quietly. "I know it was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking when I did it."

Then he sat down.

Board members didn't respond, except to say thanks. They're still not quite sure how to deal with this recent and unusual phenomenon of students showing up before them to seek forgiveness for past misdeeds.

"I'm getting ready to do something about that," said Lizette Alexander, the school district's student services director, referring to the need to establish some guidelines for these appearances. "It just started happening."

The impetus is Judge Walter Schafer, who has been on the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit bench a year and just took over juvenile cases for the county's west side. He makes the apologies - usually one of the hardest things to wrest from a teenager - part of the teens' probation.

Peer pressure, it seems, is an effective deterrent, court spokesman Ron Stuart said.

"Everybody wants to give these kids a chance to stay out of jail. This gets the point across with things they don't want to do," he said.

[Last modified January 30, 2007, 06:44:37]