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Lola Johnson used to be angry and admits she didn't like authority.

So when she recently spoke disrespectfully toward a security guard at Suitland High School, the 15-year-old found herself assigned to five days of out-of-school suspension.

Instead of getting a break from school, Johnson spent those days in Alternative to Suspension pilot program run by Suitland Family and Life Development Corp., a local nonprofit organization.

"I think it's helpful for me. I had anger management issues and I'm learning how to deal with it," the District Heights resident said.

Johnson and other high school students spent time focusing on learning about themselves, how to change their behavior and how to achieve their goals.

Johnson is one of about 60 students who have completed the program, which began in the spring. School officials hope the program will prevent students from repeating the bad behavior and keep them in the classroom.

Although five schools — Suitland High School, Bladensburg High School, Oxon Hill Middle School, G. James Gholson Middle School in Landover and Drew-Freeman Middle School in Suitland — are participating, officials hope to expand it to all county middle and high schools.

One of the reasons the program has been effective, Johnson said, is the caring adults who listen to students.

The program also helped her to focus on her career goal: owning a beauty salon. The facilitators helped her with a "roadmap" that contained short- and long-term goals, such as graduating from high school and eventually owning a business.

"I'm just finding my way in life. They're helping me set some goals to become a better person, for me and society," she said.

One of the students who participated last school year is Suitland resident Ja'Real DeLoatch, 18, a 2008 graduate of Suitland High School. DeLoatch was in a school fight last year and was sent to alternative suspension.

Back then, she said she had an "attitude problem."

"I realized I needed to change my ways," she said.

DeLoatch is now working at a dollar store in Forestville and plans to begin attending Prince George's Community College this month to study pediatric nursing, with a minor in education. She then plans to transfer to a four-year college.

"I probably would not have graduated if I didn't come here," she said.

‘The expectations are there'

Through the program, when a child is suspended, a school official calls their parents and offers them the opportunity to send their child to alternative suspension in lieu of traditional out-of-school suspension. The program takes place at the offices of area nonprofit organizations, which have included the Suitland Family and Life Development Corp., Community Advocates for Family and Youth in Largo, District Heights Family and Youth Services Center and the Reaching Individual Minds Successfully Center for Enrichment and Development in Capitol Heights.

Parents must agree to provide transportation and lunch, and participate in an orientation session.

During the seven-hour day, the students have mentoring sessions with adults, complete their homework and, if the organization chooses, the student can complete office work for the nonprofit.

From March through June of last school year, 51 students were sent through the program and only one student had a subsequent suspension, school officials said.

This school year, 10 students have completed the program so far, and none has had a subsequent suspension.

The school system does not keep statistics on how many students typically have repeat suspensions if they are assigned a traditional out-of-school suspension.

Betty Despenza-Green, chief of student services for the county school system, said the reason for the program's success is the high expectations placed on participants.

"They are built into the fiber of the organization," Despenza-Green said. "The expectations are there and the kids rise to the occasion."

She said she wants to ensure students know the program is punishment while still giving them a learning environment while they are on suspension.

Eventually, Despenza-Green hopes to get at least 10 organizations willing to take in suspended students. Although the schools do not provide money to the organizations for their services, Despenza-Green said the organizations will get a chance to have young people help with their work.

Last school year, Prince George's County had a total of 25,446 combined in-school and out-of-school suspensions.

When compared to the county schools' overall population, Prince George's County has the 10th lowest percentage of students being suspended in the 24 school systems in Maryland, according to 2007-2008 state suspension data. Somerset County has the highest with 1,814 suspensions and a total student population of 2,910, and Montgomery County has the lowest rate, with 10,259 suspensions and a student population of 137,717.

School board member Heather Iliff (Dist. 2) said she wants to see suspensions eliminated from the school system, except in offenses required by law to result in a suspension. Iliff and board member Pat J. Fletcher (Dist. 3) introduced a resolution Dec. 1 to create a suspension reduction task force. It is expected to be voted on Jan. 22.

Iliff said she would want to see funding put toward the program, because ensuring suspended students thrive academically should be a priority.

"These students' achievement is just as important as any other students' achievement," Iliff said.

Iliff wants to assist the nonprofits, and she said she hopes the community will donate to those nonprofits to assist with their efforts.

"The education of our children is all of our responsibilities," Iliff said.

True partnership

For the Suitland Family and Life Development Corp., the project has required a substantial financial commitment — though Sylvia Quinton, the group's executive director, said she has not crunched the numbers to find out just how much the project is costing the organization. Quinton said the organization's staff time has been utilized for the program and a staff member was added to help with the students' homework.

Quinton said the expense is worth however much they are spending because of the chance to partner with the school system, which she said has been difficult in the past.

The Rev. Kendra M. Smith, a youth minister at Hunter Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church in Suitland and a facilitator of the program, said it is important for the program to give students a "healthy relationship with an adult, which many of them do not have."

The program can have anywhere from one to 10 students at a time and it is tailored to the students' needs, Smith said.

One component of the students' day, which is spent at Hunter Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, is working with Wayne Thomas, a case worker who assists the students with homework and delivers the completed homework to the school.

Thomas said he enjoys talking to the students and learning about their ideas and concerns.

"We feel like this is our destiny to help these kids become the best in life they can be," Thomas said.

Largo-based Community Advocates for Family and Youth is continuing to participate this year and has managed to use existing staff and volunteers to manage the program without additional funding.

Arleen Joell, executive director of the victim advocacy organization, said the program has been a good experience for the organization and the students, and one student even returned to complete community service hours required for graduation with the organization.

Joell said in addition to their workshops and homework, the students did administrative work, such as research.

Because the organization focuses on victim advocacy, Joell said the organization used the experience as an opportunity to reach out to the teens.

"From our perspective, we were hoping that we could make more teens aware of their vulnerability, and if they are having a problem in school, try to identify what that is and help them in some other way," Joell said.

The two students who participated with District Heights Family and Youth Services' alternative program last school year did different activities based on their goals for the program, said Sara Tuke, a therapist with the city of District Heights.

Among the activities students completed during their time there was shadowing city workers and designing flyers for the department's outreach efforts.

"It was a good way for them to get some more perspective on why it's important to attain goals, why it's important to do well in school and I think for them to get a better perspective on what the community does and how they can be part of the community," Tuke said.

Although other organizations have built the program into their budgets, the RIMS Center for Enrichment and Development was unable to continue.

Yolanda Coleman, CEO of RIMS Center for Enrichment and Development, a licensed outpatient mental health clinic and psychiatric rehabilitation program with a nonprofit after-school program, said her agency was happy to participate last school year but cannot continue without financial assistance. She said in addition to working with the students to talk about their behavior and how to change it, some of the program participants served as peer tutors for the young students in the after-school program.

"Although we'd love to be that kind of service to the community, it's really hard when you can't find the volunteers that would do the work without expecting a pay, and our agency didn't have that in the budget to continue providing the services," Coleman said.

E-mail Megan King at mking@gazette.net.