The replacement statue at Cabazon Elementary School will depict a tyrannosaurus, the choice of most polled students.

"They want the one with the teeth," Monte said.

Monte works with fourth-grade students in Cabazon as part of the GREAT gang prevention program and is using the fundraiser as a learning tool. He impressed upon the children on Friday the importance of making good choices. The vandals, he said, made bad choices.

"Making good choices is not always easy," he added.

School district officials say the vandals decapitated the statue and used the head to smash windows on campus. They also left graffiti, destroyed lunch tables and broke into and vandalized the school library and a classroom, Riverside County sheriff's deputies said at the time.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Jan. 14.

The small dinosaur statue known as Dino had been on campus three years, a gift to the school. Monte says the statue was damaged beyond repair.

"I just felt sad and angry at the same time because it had been there since I was in kindergarten," said student Ricardo Villasenor, 10. The campaign to replace the statue has been dubbed Bring Back Dino.

"I feel better now because we're going to get an even bigger one," Ricardo said.

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