It’s Easy To Help...

"Some of the rowdiest kids finished first."

Better to assume they’re smart, than judge them just because they don’t always stay in their seats when doing math at Homework Heroes or elsewhere.

"How do you tell kids, ‘No, you can’t go.’?" when 79 line up for a trip to the zoo – instead of the expected 60. Better to fill the bus and pack some last-minute PB&J sandwiches for the ones whose parents hadn’t made it to the store, or couldn’t afford to. Better to squeeze in and explain than to isolate and complain. "Why are you being mean this summer?"

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When kids ask this, Crystal, who used to take summer field trips and now leads them, explains that she’s helping younger kids "learn how to control their behavior," instead of having some adult control it for them. Better to plant seeds of responsibility than those of resentment and doubt.

"It’s OK to be smart."

Luis, 17, grew up in the Celebrando la Familia program. Now he works here. He carries a new cell phone – and a sense of pride. He pushes kids to learn about "other people around them." To learn it’s OK to ask for help. Better to put out a "positive vibe" than let your talents go to waste.

Sometimes, the kids do it themselves. They have to. A floor below, in the stark, glass-and-brick building behind the auto-repair shop, some three dozen kids – about 70 percent of those expelled from St. Vrain Valley schools – begin to understand the message often repeated at Clearview Educational Center: "You’re responsible for you."

"There’s still good in these kids. If we throw them out, we’re making criminals. We’re making what we fear," says Clearview’s Amy Jenkins.

That future criminal might have been one 17-year-old, who more than once was caught with drug paraphernalia. The second time was after he’d picked up a middle-school friend. When police pulled the car over, his marijuana habit and BB gun were enough to get him booted from public school.

He says he’s almost achieved his goal of giving up smoking – pot – completely. He knows upon "reentry" into public school he’ll face harsher deadlines than the self-paced academic goals he’s set in the last few months. He knows one of the toughest tests he’ll face is the "eye test" from the principal or school cop, when they check to see if he’s high.

He knows they’ll look in his eyes, but see into his soul. That’s why he works hard each day at Clearview’s alternative education program. Better to let the school cop stare you in the face than find yourself staring down the wrong end of a gun. Or be unable to look at yourself in the mirror.