2 More Casualties of County’s Budget Wars : Education: Locked in a funding dispute with the school district, the probation department pulls officers from 11 campuses.

A Los Angeles County probation department program that provides daily supervision of juvenile offenders while they are in high school is scheduled to be dropped from 11 campuses--the latest victim of budget cutbacks.

The probation department plans to take nine officers out of Los Angeles Unified School District high schools in the Crenshaw, South-Central, Eastside and Central City areas by Sept. 1.

Although school violence remains a serious problem, both probation department and school district officials say they lack an estimated $360,000, or half the annual cost, to continue the 12-year-old School Crime Suppression Program. A dozen other cities and school districts in the county share the costs of the program, but the Los Angeles school district never has.

“We cannot afford to continue to provide for gratis a service other districts are paying for,” said Chief Probation Officer Barry Nidorf, whose department faces a $13-million budget cut.

Until this year, the county used general funds to pay the district’s share of the school probation program. But the funding was dropped in the county’s latest budget blood bath. The school district cannot provide the money, officials say, after $143 million in its own budget cuts.

“The shortfall of funds does not allow us to go forward with it,” said Dan Isaacs, assistant superintendent of operations for the school district.

The district has been criticized for its failure to develop crime prevention and counseling resources to stem school violence. School officials say the probation program is the only one of its kind in the system.

Under the School Crime Suppression Program, the probation department places its officers on high school campuses to supervise a select few of several dozen students attending high school while under court-ordered probation. The probationers picked for the intensive supervision have violent criminal backgrounds. The officers also counsel students referred by school officials as potential troublemakers.

Even though the school board set up a committee on school safety last week to explore new programs, funds for this one have not been found. Board member Barbara Boudreaux said she hopes to secure corporate or grant money.

LAUSD board President Leticia Quezada called the program “incredible and of great benefit.” But she chafed at the pay-or-else ultimatum and turned the tables of blame back on the county. “Probation is a county, not a school district, service,” she said. “They’re saying probation is not going to service students in Los Angeles Unified schools.”

The program has been in operation at Roosevelt, Locke, Jordan, Gardena, Washington, Dorsey, Crenshaw, Los Angeles, Jefferson, Manual Arts and John C. Fremont high schools. In all, 18,000 Los Angeles County high school students are on probation, officials said.

“It’s a very strong deterrent to gang activity,” said Edward Robbs, principal of Locke High School. The officer at his school knows all the students and is able to “step in at a moment’s notice if there’s a problem.”

At John C. Fremont High School, Principal John Haydel said the presence of a probation officer “gives us some leverage. Students know if they don’t behave, they may go someplace they don’t want to go. The probation officer has a direct link to the court.”

Haydel cited a recent incident in which Fremont’s probation officer, Linda McCoy, stepped in when three female students tried to beat up a fourth. The intended victim was on probation and the others were not, but McCoy ended up counseling them all.

“They disliked (the intended victim) when they didn’t know her,” McCoy recalled. “Somebody said she said something and then rolled her eyes. It was real foolish. But we talked about a lot of things, like dignity and pride. It stopped there, but this could have continued and been volatile after school.”

McCoy’s job is fairly typical of school-based probation officers. She is responsible for 30 students, ensuring that they are obeying court orders. Often judges require the youngsters to attend school, maintain satisfactory grades, avoid gangs, and obey curfews and their parents or guardian. Any violations McCoy reports to Juvenile Court can result in greater punishment, such as time at Juvenile Hall.

One morning, the 40-year-old officer talked by phone to the grandmother of a 16-year-old who was on probation for looting during last year’s riots. McCoy learned that the boy had stayed out until 1 a.m. the night before, violating his curfew, and “didn’t do any of his chores.”

When the boy showed up at school, he told McCoy that he had been out making a video for a rap music contest. As she chastised him about the curfew, she learned that he had just been suspended from Fremont for having too many absences.

“You’ve really messed up,” McCoy told him. “Would you like to go to Juvenile Hall for a visit?”

The boy didn’t answer.

Probation officials say McCoy and the other officers will be reassigned. McCoy will be sorry to leave the school. “There’s no other way you can have this kind of contact and see these kids every day,” she said.