Learning the Hard Way : Expelled Students Get Last Chance at Regimented School

The debut of Mira Loma Community School three months ago in a former county jail was not auspicious. Into the glum setting marched seven students--it was supposed to be eight, but one had been arrested the night before--single file with their hands behind their backs. All of them had been formerly expelled from regular public schools.

Mira Loma is a last-chance school, the first in the county to force its troublesome students into a highly regimented routine that includes a strict code of conduct and dress code.

All students attending Mira Loma, a joint project between the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the Antelope Valley Union High School District, are there voluntarily, hoping to earn the right to get back into regular schools.

On that first day, several of them were obviously unhappy about the uncompromising rules and about going to class in a place where the campus included razor wire and barred windows.

“When we were sitting back there,” said Jim (no real names of the students are used in this article), “we were thinking of ways to bust out.”

But Jim is still there, as are four others in the original group. And they have been joined by many others. At a time of year when most high schools are holding graduation ceremonies, Mira Loma is busy processing applications and dealing with a waiting list.

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About 30 students are now enrolled in Mira Loma, some of whom are earning A’s and Bs instead of the failing marks they used to get.

“At first I wanted to drop out, go kicking it with the homeboys,” said Bill, a 17-year-old expelled from Littlerock High School for a weapons-related charge. “Now I’m hanging in here. I’m going to make it.”

Bill’s story, although heartening, is, like many in Mira Loma, not entirely positive. Scott Schaufele, the school’s teacher, says that Bill has maintained his gang contacts.

“He’s hanging out with the gangsters,” Schaufele said. “He’s a straight-up gangster. But he wants to be a veterinarian. He’s coming here and seeing he can be something else.

“Let’s face it,” Schaufele continued, “you can’t determine if what you’re doing is going to pay off in five years. But I’m seeing some kids who are having a different world view. I can’t tell you they’re going to graduate from USC next week, but we are turning kids around.”

Mira Loma does have its first success story.

Richard was expelled from regular school in February for drug possession. He was one of the original Mira Loma students.

As of last week, he had earned enough good grades and behavior points to be returned to a regular high school.

At a short ceremony at Mira Loma, Schaufele presented Richard with a certificate, to the applause of the other students.

“Your attitude has changed tremendously,” Schaufele told him. “You’ve come a long way. Good job.”

Getting to this point was not easy for Richard, he is the first to admit. “It’s not really fun,” the teen-ager said of Mira Loma. “It’s still school.”

At the time he was expelled, Richard was receiving Cs and Ds. In order to earn his certificate at Mira Loma, he had to maintain at least a C average.

More difficult for many of the students is the school’s behavior point system. They can earn up to 38 points a day by adhering to the dress code--white golf shirts, blue jeans (not baggy), white tennis shoes with white shoelaces, no dangling earrings--and for acceptable behavior. That means getting to school on time, no talking except during class discussions, no gum chewing, no profanity, no pens (only pencils are allowed).

Students who earn at least 172 out of a possible 190 points each week can be eligible to re-enter a regular school at the end of their expulsion. Points can be taken away too for violating the rules.

Richard believes the regimentation has made him more able to deal with school. “I think it will be better,” he said about returning to regular classes in the fall. “It’s my senior year.”

But some of the Mira Loma students said the regimentation, which includes random searches and silently marching to and from class every day with hands behind backs, is demeaning.

“When you go to the bathroom, you have someone watching you, which is annoying,” said Randy, a 16-year-old expelled from Palmdale High School because he was carrying a knife.

Some students, unable to cope with the regimentation, drop out of Mira Loma. Three were kicked out for repeatedly breaking the rules.

“We’ll try to work with them, but when you start crossing the line and saying, ‘How many inches can I go over it?’ ” said Mira Loma Principal Sheldon Epstein, “we’re not going to allow it.”

The one unregimented part of Mira Loma are the classes themselves, where group participation is encouraged. The result is often noisy with students all too willing to voice opinions, solicited or not.

“What do you call someone who is scared of everything?” Schaufele asked during a recent discussion on mental attitude, getting a chorus of remarks such as “schizophrenic” and “weak” in return.

Schaufele acknowledged the remarks, and then gave his view that people become “what they hate or fear. If you carry a knife or a gun on campus, you’re a scared person.”

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Schaufele’s willingness to listen to whatever opinions are voiced is one of his biggest strengths, according to several students.

“He doesn’t put me down,” Diane said. “All of the other teachers I’ve had put me down.”

Not that Diane, 16, is teacher’s pet. A few minutes later, Schaufele caught her chatting with two other students during a study period. “That’s two points,” he said severely, drawing an exasperated look from Diane. And he deducted two points from the totals of the other two students as well.

But Diane was willing to stand the strict rules, barred windows and razor wire if it meant she was being given a second chance. For her, this is not punishment. It’s an opportunity.

“It’s not a prison, it’s a school,” she said. “It may be close to a prison, built from a prison, but it’s a school.”