Charter course

Back to School: How to turn around a gang-infested inner-city school? It isn’t easy, but a small, aggressive group of teachers and parents can make it happen | Lynn Vincent

Fred Greaves/Genesis Photos

SAN DIEGO— Summoned by an old-fashioned, hand-rung school bell, 630 uniformed seventh- and eighth-graders line up at the chain-link gates to the interior campus of a college preparatory junior high school in San Diego. Separate lines form for boys and girls, boys on the left. Posted just inside the gates are school director Vince Riveroll and science teacher Rob Charleton.

With genuine smiles, Riveroll and Charleton shake each student's hand and greet him or her by name. There are also friendly reminders:

"OK, no 'sagging,'" Charleton says to one boy, who grins sheepishly and pulls up his khaki pants.

"Get rid of the gum," says Riveroll to a girl wearing a skirt of tartan plaid. She cheerfully complies.