CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Janet Klatt is nine months into a 30-month probation for a crime she says should never have happened.

In January she pled guilty to indecent liberties with a student, in a case involving a 16-year-old student at the Cabarrus County private school where she taught.

On Wednesday, Klatt explained what she says is her new focus.

"What we're trying to do is catch it before it's too late, because when it goes to the criminal system we've lost a teacher, we've lost a student, we've lost families," she said.

Klatt is the founder of Teachers For Change, a nonprofit organization she says will help prevent teacher-student sex from happening by offering information to schools about identifying and stopping inappropriate teacher-student relationships.

Klatt would not actually be going into the schools, but would provide a curriculum for the schools to use. She explained there are three ways that schools can implement the program, “The school can implement it on their own, they can go to a consulting company, or I can direct them to someone who may be able to help them. We don't care, as long as the intention of the program is implemented correctly.”

She says the program group can teach teachers not to go down the same path she did. But it's that same experience that could keep her program from taking off.

The Brunswick County school system was about to use the program until it learned of her past.

"What's happened was, through the pressure of politics and money, they decided, ‘What are we going to do?’ I feel desperately sorry for them," she said.

Sorry, perhaps -- but still determined.

The organization, still new, is already attracting some high-profile supporters.

"We have reached out to the people, all the way from Laura Bush to Robin Hayes," Klatt said.

Eyewitness News asked her if they were aware of her past before she approached them for support.

"I have never hidden that in any way. Nor do I phone anybody and say ‘hi, I'm a convicted felon'? Absolutely not," she said.