but it s like a group of guys standing on the corner and you re walking. if nobody know who you are, i mean, they re going to say something to you. we definitely want to try to protect them from violence. charles anderson, assistant principal at eric s engelwood high school says it s not uncommon for kids to get robbed, jumped or even worse. 49 students were killed in the school year ending in june of 2009. you re almost securing a perimeter a few blocks around this school. yes, we are. it s worth it if we can get a kid to feel comfortable to come to school and then we can help them focus on their education. reporter: principal peggy coralis says it s hard for her teachers to break through that tough exterior that kids have to keep up. drop that wall and not be so tough or onguard in school. we have to break down a lot of that. as difficult as mornings can
yourself, it s dark. not a lot of street lights out here. i m so used to seeing it. i m used to guys standing on the corner. see that. that s what i m talking about. this is crazy. you re just used to it? i m used to it. along the way amber points out a drug house. what s going on at that house now? it s abandoned so a lot of people are out there selling drugs and playing dice and doing what they do. doing what they do. amber s final rule of the road, walk fast. if i was by myself, i would have been at jackson. i guarantee you. it s only when amber catches sight of her house, 45 minutes after she left school, she knows she s back in safe territory. that s a successful day, you made it. that s a good day for a lot of these kids. how do you help them get to and from school and feel a little safer?
day out is how they re going to get safely to and from school. this takes you where? this takes me to the el. it s not 7:00 a.m. and eric is facing his first test of the day. getting safely to school on chicago s south side. everybody get on the bus and sometimes coming home they re fighting and stuff like that on the bus. things like that you actually switched routes to school because it got so bad? yeah. to walk in eric s shoes is to get a glimpse into a world where getting to school is all about survival. how would you describe the neighborhood for somebody who doesn t, you know, that doesn t know it. it s rough. rough? yeah. like 95% of the public school students eric is responsible for getting to school on his own. he tries to travel with friends to avoid trouble. if you don t have any friends, i m not going to say you re going to get picked on,
they re trying their best with some of those community programs and policing the areas around the schools. i say policing, we re just talking about community volunteers and getting word that some stimulus funds will be used. $5 million to start these community watchdog area for people to be around the toughest neighborhoods and high schools to cut down on some of that violence. guys, so telling there. you can t even begin to help the kids begin their grades and get into college if you don t feel safe. literally, how can you worry if you make an a, b or c on a test if main worry is if you get to and from school safely. understandable and just shocking to see it first hand. t.j., great stuff, thanks so much. really is a tragic situation. crossing the half hour now and checking our top stories this friday morning with nasa counting down to the end of the space shuttle era. you can put a little bit of time back on the clock. payload delay is pushing back the program s last two