By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

December 13 -- Getting in trouble is easy when you’re a teenager; getting back on track isn’t. But thanks to Santa Monica’s Community Day School, 20 high school students who were falling through the cracks are getting another chance.

And, thanks to the dedication and innovation of two of the district’s most creative teachers, the students are doing more than just catching up.

“Enriched high-quality instruction” -- that’s the secret to success at Santa Monica’s newest public school entering its second year, Director of Pupil Services Laurel Schmidt told reporters this fall.

“When you see it, that’s what you’d want for all students,” agreed Superintendent Dianne Talarico, who made a visit to the school one of her first priorities when she started her job at the district.

The reasons that led the students to the school are as varied as the kids themselves -- some were truant, some fell behind in credits, some came out of the juvenile justice system, while illness held some back.

What they have in common is courage and potential, Teaching Principal Bill Himelright said.

“Kids who have some of the issues these kids have are very bright kids,” Himelright said. The challenge he and fellow-teacher Elizabeth Farruggia face is to “translate street savvy into school savvy.”

While some community day schools feed their students packets of busywork, valuing a quiet classroom above all else, Himelright and Farruggia want more for their kids.

A typical morning included presentations by the kids on the systems of the human body and a group reading lesson.

After they finished, one group was going to the cemetery at 14th Street and Pico Boulevard to take pictures with S. Beth Atkins, photographer and author of “Voices from the Streets” and “Gun Stories,” who’s teaching the students to produce their own photo-biographies.

Atkins isn’t the only community member helping out. A police officer teaches kick boxing, the students get yoga lessons three times a month, and there are plans for guitar lessons in the works.

The school itself is located at the Police Activities League building in Memorial Park, where the students can use the gym and tennis courts. They’re also welcome at Virginia Park.

“This really is an example of a partnership between many agencies,” Himelright said.

The staff at the Police Activities League is “very, very embracing of having the kids there,” said Schmidt. “Without the City’s cooperation we could not have opened a community day school.”

The school was conceived during a series of community meetings in 2005 addressing the causes of gang violence, though the student body today is more diverse than the school’s origins would suggest.

“I’d like the school to look like a microcosm of the district,” Himelright said, as he explained why he was glad that several young women joined the school this year.

“Forced segregation can be perceived as punishment,” he said. “It shouldn’t be ‘that place over there where you are sent.’”

Sasha, a buoyant, athletic young woman wearing a Santa hat for the holidays, agreed.

“It’s a great school,” she wanted students in the district to know. “If students get transferred here, it’s not a bad school.”

Sasha had effectively disappeared at Santa Monica High School, ditching classes by wandering around the campus. She knew she couldn’t leave the campus without getting caught, but she didn’t want endure the embarrassment of showing up for class unprepared.

“Most of my classrooms were overpopulated,” Sasha said. “I wouldn’t do my homework because I didn’t get it explained right.”

“Here you feel welcome. They go over your work as many times as you need it, they want to help you.”

Sasha’s grades have gone up from F’s to A’s and B’s, and she’s planning to go to college and become a counselor for teenagers.

Though she’s earned the right to transition back into SAMOHI, she wants to stay until the second half of her senior year, returning in time “to enjoy the prom.”

“Before I didn’t plan anything,” Sasha said. “Now I’m all about planning.”

“I wouldn’t speak to my mom about anything. Now I talk about everything.”

Her classmate, Omar, is guardedly hopeful.

His immediate goal is to “do all my work and try not to mess up.” Like Sasha, he plans to go to college after he graduates, taking “the classes that I need to succeed in life.”

Omar has to commute from Los Angeles, putting in a long day that sometimes doesn’t end until 9 p.m. at Virginia Park, but he said, “It’s all right.”

He’s pretty content, but “would like to see girls come over here.

“I have a few friends that would like to meet some girls. I would also like to meet some girls,” Omar said with a grin.