By Matt King
After nearly two hours of questioning, one of the boys who vandalized Brook Knoll Elementary was in tears.
The humiliating court appearances, house arrest, probation that will limit his freedom for three years, none of that was as hard as this — facing the people he hurt and answering questions from 10-year-old kids who wanted to know why he did it.
"I don't hate kids," he told them. "I didn't do it to hurt kids."
The boy is not being named because he's a juvenile. He was one of two kids involved in the vandalism who spoke to the Sentinel last week. In the interview, he said that he still doesn't know why he did it, that he didn't have a reason then and doesn't now.
"I've said it a billion times," he said. "It was just really stupid."
The Brook Knoll community was horrified last May when five drunken teenagers broke the school's windows and covered them in spray paint, including one message that said "there will be blood."
But today, parents and educators say they're able to put the ugly incident in the past, thanks in large part to a grueling and emotionally draining mediation sponsored by Victim-Offender Dialogue Program, which gave the school community a chance to face the three juvenile perpetrators and gave the three a chance to explain themselves.
| Two 18-year-old suspects, Robert Woolery and Evan Zavala, have pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial in December. |
"I was very angry going into it," Espinola said. "I was afraid to send my kids to school. ... But I have to say, this experience, I wish every parent could have sat through it. It was a really emotional life-altering experience for me."
The Victim-Offender program is for youth offenders and is sponsored by the Conflict Resolution Center. A judge can recommend the program but no one is forced to participate. The three boys are on probation until they turn 19, can't drive except to go to work or school, get regular drug tests, have to be home by 9 p.m. every day and will have to make financial restitution.
"I think the mediation really helped because no one from Brook Knoll got to know us and talk to us and find out what kind of kids we really are." one of the boys said. "We got to let them know how we feel and tell our side of the story."
The mother of one of the teens said the women from Brook Knoll "were really hard on the boys. They just kept firing questions at them and were obviously very angry. It was very, very hard. There was a lot of crying, but in the end it was very, very good."
The boys also were asked questions written by the school's fifth-graders. The students wanted to know why they did it, but they were also compassionate. One child worried about the vandals' college prospects. Another said, "we forgive you."
"That made me feel really good," one boy said. "It felt really good just to know that it's settled."
None of the three kids in mediation had been in trouble before, and they weren't responsible for the worst of the damage at Brook Knoll, but, by coincidence, they say they know the teenagers responsible for the fire that torched the San Lorenzo Valley High School library last month.
"That scared me," one said. "I don't know all the circumstances but from what I heard they were in the same situation we were."
The boys, who are juniors, are now in the situation of going off to college under a kind of house arrest. If they go away to school, they'll have to be back to the dorm by 9 p.m. in the first months of their freshman year. But they also have some unexpected allies as they try recover from their night of recklessness. Through the mediation process, they made new friends.
"I'm hopeful that this is one of the steps that will help these young men turn their lives around," Frandle said. "They're really nice kids, delightful young men. I was very angry with them but now I feel like I can be another support person for them."
Contact Matt King at mking@santacruzsentinel.com.
