2 Schools That Could : Silver Spur Elementary is elite. Taper is family. Both won the nation’s top award.

Taper Avenue Elementary School Principal Al Fasani prefers a T-shirt to a jacket and tie. But not just any T-shirt.

Fasani’s favorite shirt carries a message: His school has been designated a National Distinguished School--the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education.

But the principal’s studied casualness also conveys a less obvious message that he believes is the key to understanding what gave his school an edge over others--namely, that Taper Avenue is a place with the informal warmth of a family.

“We have a course of study like other schools, the same (teacher-student) ratio as other schools,” he said.

“You try to provide what is magic . . . a chemistry between students, teachers, support staff, parents. Taper Avenue is the epitome of a family.”

Taper Avenue in San Pedro is only 5 miles from Silver Spur Elementary in Rancho Palos Verdes, the only other school in Los Angeles County to receive the national award. But more than distance separates the two schools.

Unlike Silver Spur, a rather small school that draws its students from the economically elite Palos Verdes Peninsula, Taper Avenue has several characteristics that could have hindered its progress.

Taper Avenue has 1,100 pupils, nearly three times as many as Silver Spur. About one-third of them come from low-income families. A tide of transient students from nearby Navy housing passes through the school, with 40% of the students staying no more than three years. About 10% of the students are bused in from the inner city, and gangs are a problem in some nearby neighborhoods. About 9% of the students require special education.

By contrast, at Silver Spur, fewer than 1% of its students come from low-income families, and fewer than 1% need special education.

Interviews with teachers, administrators and parents support Fasani’s description of Taper Avenue as a school with a family spirit. They generally agree that this has much to do with the school’s achievement.

Its success shows up in hard numbers on the California Assessment Program tests.

“Our CAP scores are over 300. They are not at the very, very top, as maybe Silver Spur or some schools at the top socioeconomic scale, but we outscore almost every other school in the same socioeconomic band that we are in,” said Lydia Shores, assistant principal.

But there are less tangible signs that the school has inspired its community.

“What is unique about Taper?” Marie Dukesherer, a parent member of the Taper Avenue School Improvement Committee, repeated the question in a hastily convened meeting of parents and staff around Fasani’s desk this week. “There is a feeling about it. . . .”

“You feel like you are a part of it,” continued Lynne Monti, another committee member.

“Comfortable,” commented PTA President Sherrill Truax.

“Like a family,” said Sharilyn Allen, a member of the improvement committee.

Allen said she hesitated for a number of years before she transferred her child from a Catholic school to Taper Avenue. “You hear these horror stories about public schools,” she said.

But right off she got a good feeling about Fasani, who rearranged his schedule at a moment’s notice to meet with her. “It was unbelievable,” she said. “I don’t feel intimidated.”

She added that the school, for all its informality, maintains discipline more firmly than the parochial school her child had attended.

Navy influence is heavy at the school, with some world-traveler students providing firsthand accounts of life in remote areas in geography lessons, according to Shores. But others, whose education has suffered from too many transfers, badly need remedial education.

Navy families are known at Taper Avenue for pitching in with volunteer work. “The Navy parents--having been moved around--are used to coming in and helping because they know that is the best way they can find out in a hurry what is going on,” Shores said.

In addition, the USS Peleliu has adopted Taper Avenue, and naval personnel on shore leave frequently come to help out.

The volunteer program goes beyond the Navy. Dukesherer was invited to lend a hand “the first day I walked in the door. . . . I really felt at home very fast.” An active PTA program raises money and provides parent education on drugs and gangs. A sixth-grade garage sale netted $1,200 recently.

Local businesses help out, too.

For example, the Stuft Pizza restaurant in San Pedro recently agreed to give the school 40% of its profits from one night if the teachers and staff would wait on tables. Fasani, who took orders himself that night, said the school got $500--and the kids who came with their parents learned something about their teachers and principal. “They see you in another dimension,” he said.

Many teachers have community roots, with more than one-third living in San Pedro.

One of them, Charles Greetham, the school representative of United Teachers of Los Angeles, said teachers are such familiar faces in the community that they are constantly running into former students, and “a lot of the kids come back and visit teachers.” He added that teachers typically spend $200 to $300 “out of their pockets” for extra instructional materials.

In addition, no matter what issues divide the administration and the teachers’ union on districtwide issues, Fasani and Greetham say relations are good at the school, where 90% of the teachers belong to the union.

Taper Avenue is used as a community center after school by a host of community and youth groups, including the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls and Brownies. “The auditorium is going almost five days a week,” said Fasani.

The school also sponsors a science club and an annual science fair. “Every child is doing a project,” Fasani said.

The school also encourages neighbors to report graffiti. “It is taken care of within 24 hours . . . before it has a chance to attract any attention,” Shores said.

Every day after lunch, students scrub down their tables. After lunch one day this week, students could be seen on their hands and knees picking up particles of food. Fasani said the practice is intended to instill personal responsibility for cleanliness in common areas.

When Shores, who prepared the lengthy application for the national award, met with the officials who came to the school to review programs, she said they did not focus on the school’s standing compared to the schools where kids have more advantages.

“What they wanted to know is what your resources are and how well you are using them,” she said.