A Second Chance for Dangerous Delinquents : Schools: Youngsters disciplined for offenses as serious as carrying guns are sent to special classes rather than being expelled.

The rap sheet on the ninth-grader was not pretty.

Even before bringing a loaded .25-caliber automatic pistol onto the Gompers Secondary School campus in May, the 15-year-old had been disciplined many times at Gompers and at Pershing Junior High--where he had transferred from Gompers during the year--for truancy, defiance and classroom disruptions.

His academic record was equally dismal, with only three credits earned by the end of ninth grade, far below the 11 or so needed at that point toward getting a high-school diploma three years later.

Until this past spring, the student would have been routinely expelled from the San Diego city schools district for the weapon. Under the yearlong expulsion, the odds were nearly 50-50 that he would go without any schooling, and 1 in 3 that he would simply end his education at that point.

Even if he should show up for reinstatement the following year, he would be further behind academically than before, increasing his already high risk for dropping out permanently.

But, when school trustees reviewed his case in July, they suspended his expulsion under a new, but as yet little-publicized policy adopted in May to give such students a new chance at salvaging an educational future--a policy that Los Angeles recently dropped, saying it didn’t work.

Instead of a yearlong automatic “kick out,” students with serious campus weapons and assault violations, or drug arrests, now can have their suspensions held off if they agree to attend a new school program customized to their academic and counseling needs.

The pilot program, the result of a joint teaching and financial effort between administrators at city schools and the County Office of Education, will begin early next month for 35 students.

The new approach comes at the same time that Los Angeles city school trustees adopted a tough new rule in June to expel automatically any junior- or senior-high student caught with a gun at school. The L.A. board members questioned whether their previous policy calling for alternative programs was working with many of these students, especially since limited funding often resulted in bare-bones efforts.

But San Diego board trustee Jim Roache, a county sheriff commander whose Lemon Grove station handles juvenile cases in the East County, defended the new San Diego effort.

“I’ve been in law enforcement many years and have seen people I thought were beyond redemption, but suddenly a light goes on in their heads, and they do turn their lives around,” Roache said. “The board wants to make sure we go as far as we can to give problematic students a chance. We’re removing them from the comprehensive junior or senior high schoool to an alternative situation so that we can still maintain a safe, orderly educational environment for everyone.”

Students will attend a new classroom facility of the Summit Schools. The county education office operates the 22-site Summit system for students countywide who cannot handle the pressures, academic and/or social, at their neighborhood schools. Such students might be runaways or truants, although many have not committed crimes that would put them into the juvenile justice system.

Like other Summit schools, the new pilot will try to give the teens more confidence, raise their skills in English, math and social studies, and steer them toward careers for the non-college-bound. Class sizes are kept small, generally 15 students or less.

In addition to two teachers and classroom aides, a city schools counselor will work at least two full days a week with both students and parents.

“He’ll be directly involved in academic progress, trying to find a way to bring out the creative skills that are potentially in all of these kids,” said Everett McGlothlin, principal of the Summit Schools and a tireless veteran of efforts to improve alternative education.

“And he’ll get parents involved--we’ll have an open house, bring them to the site, have them interact with teachers, try to have the school feel as much like a regular school as we can.”

The new policy isn’t universally popular.

Alex Rascon, city schools police chief, expressed skepticism that it will work, saying that many of the students who bring weapons on campus “are already repeaters” with past arrests and other school-related violations.

“Sure, there are possible exceptions where a 9-year old kid brings a gun on campus for show-or-tell or a teen-ager takes one to school for personal protection from a gang,” Rascon said. “But in general, we need to have a stern, tough, consistent policy, and I think expulsion is reasonable, not harsh, in most cases.”

McGlothlin admitted the task is daunting, given the lack of academic success, or even good will toward school, that the majority of these students will bring to Summit. But he nevertheless remains optimistic because of the extra counseling, and the carrot-and-stick design to the pilot.

“These students must come to school, that is a condition of the suspension of expulsion,” McGlothlin said. “There is always the threat of final expulsion hanging over them if they don’t attend. I want to shoot for a goal of 70%-80% transition within a year back to a regular school or other program.”

Other Summit programs, which students attend voluntarily, have a slightly lower success rate, he said.

Richard Burnett, who handles expulsion hearings for San Diego city schools, said that, under previous policy, the district could only advise expelled students to attend a Summit facility or other school during their year away from San Diego Unified. Few did.

“Now they’re required to attend the new program as a condition” of not having a permanent expulsion on their records, Burnett said.

“And yes, the parent emphasis is being stressed much more than in the past,” Burnett said. “It’s critical to have the parent support to get these kids a future.” He said that area social agencies will be aggressively used for family referrals if the counselor believes the organizations can help.

Kearny High Principal Mike Lorch understands that the new policy could be seen as a lessened punishment.

“But you have to ask, ‘Do you want to put a kid out of school forever, just turn him loose?’ by expelling him, period,” Lorch said. “We are removing the kid from the existing school, but, crazy as it may sound to some people, educators don’t just want to give up on even the hardest-core kids.

“We’re constantly looking for some alternative to try and bring a student around.”