School Requires Public Service for Graduation : Education: Chatsworth High is the first in the county to set up such a program. Backers say students will be helping people while exploring career possibilities.

Beginning this semester, Chatsworth High School students will be required to do community service work to earn their diplomas, making the school the first in Los Angeles County to adopt such a graduation requirement.

Each student in grades 9, 10 and 11 must complete 20 hours of community service before finishing finish high school or face the possibility of not graduating. This year’s senior class will have to perform 10 hours of work.

Last year, the school tested the program on its senior class, with 90% of the students participating in projects ranging from volunteer work with local politicians to planting trees at the new Metrolink station in Chatsworth.

The idea for the requirement came from the School Based Management Team--committees of parents, teachers and school officials that guide policy--at Chatsworth High. Members decided to phase in the community service requirement to bolster students’ awareness and pride in their neighborhood, said Chatsworth Principal Donna Smith.

Chatsworth High is the only school in the county to impose such a requirement, said county education officials.

“This gets kids to appreciate their community and how they can give back to the community,” said Smith, who added that the volunteer program allows students to explore career possibilities.

While the logistics of implementing and enforcing the new policy have yet to be fully fleshed out, students will be asked to present signed letters to school officials proving that they did their community service work.

All volunteer service must be done after school hours or on weekends, and no academic credit will be given, said Ed Burke, a government teacher and a coordinator of last year’s senior volun teer program.

Students can participate in programs already approved by the school or come up with their own plans. Some students have already expressed interest in upcoming community events, Burke said, such as an AIDS march at the end of the month.

“I applaud (Chatsworth High School’s) efforts. All high school students should have this type of experience,” said Los Angeles Board of Education member Julie Korenstein.

The seeds of the community service requirement were sown eight years ago when Korenstein set up a voluntary exploratory development program at Chatsworth High in which students could do 90 hours of volunteer work to earn school credit.

“It’s a bridge between being a young, inexperienced teen-ager and the transition into the work force,” Korenstein said. Although the students are not paid for their work, they can list their efforts as work experience.

On Monday, the first day of school, 17-year-old Willy Leon, a Chatsworth High junior, said he did not know about the new policy. But he said it is “a pretty good idea.” Willy said he would be most interested in doing volunteer work at the school itself.

While a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District school board, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg proposed a districtwide community service requirement. Her proposal was not approved.

“People were afraid that the record-keeping would be so enormous that it would not be possible,” Goldberg said.

“Certainly I would love to see all the schools individually do this. . . . The value of it is hard to deny. Everybody runs about saying how alienated youth are. Of course they are. They’re not connected. By serving lunches and helping out at a child care center, those kids will feel very different about themselves.”