WILLIS, Texas -- At a Montgomery County school, a classroom is filled with children ready to learn. But they are not learning reading, writing or arithmetic. They're learning a lesson that could save their lives.

"Child Lures" is taught at A.R. Turner Elementary School in Willis.

Second-grade teacher Paulette Everett-Norman started the program after her son's death.

"McKay was a wonderful boy. I was so blessed for 12 and a half years," said Everett-Norman.

McKay Everett, 12, was taken from his Conroe home in 1995. His parents received a phone call for ransom.

Days later, McKay was found dead in Louisiana. A family friend, Hilton Crawford, was convicted and sentenced to death for the boy's murder.

"We certainly know now because of McKay's abduction and murder that there was certainly a gigantic void," Everett-Norman said.

Everett-Norman said the void was education on preventing abductions so she started the McKay Foundation.

It funds the "Child Lures" prevention program in Conroe-area schools, which has taught 11,000 children so far.

This year, the program expanded to Willis.

"It is imperative that our boys and girls receive age-appropriate, nonthreatening education," Everett-Norman said.

Counselors explain the ways that strangers may talk to them or try and take them away.

They also talk about adults who children may know and trust, and the fine line between trust and a dangerous situation.

"How do we explain to the boys and girls that someone they love could harm them? That's tough. When you teach the children the truth, we've been prudent. It's not easy," Everett-Norman said.

She hopes the program will one day be used in every classroom in Texas.

For more information, contact the McKay Foundation, (936) 447-4452 or visit www.protectingchildren.org.