COLLEGE PREP'S SPLIT CAMPUS FINALLY UNDER ONE ROOF

THE SAN JOSE SCHOOL RECRUITS FROM FAMILIES WHO TRADITIONALLY HAVE REGARDED COLLEGE FOR THEIR CHILDREN AS OUT OF REACH. THE STAFF HOPES THE SCHOOL'S DIFFICULT MISSION WILL BE A LITTLE EASIER NOW.

It's a little odd to hear a high school student refer to school as ''home,'' but that's what's happening these days at Downtown College Prep High School.

The charter school -- which had been operating at split sites since its inception in 2000 -- finally came together under one roof last week, at a former fitness center on West San Fernando Street.

Now that all the classes are in the same place, ''we're like a family,'' said Martin Garcia, 16. ''We're all together. It's like a home.''

Although the facility is new, DCP's mission has not changed: It recruits from families who traditionally have regarded college for their children as out of reach. The student body is about 90 percent Latino, with about 70 percent from low-income households.

Additionally, most of them enter the high school with skills far below grade level. But DCP's ambition is to send every student on to college.

The staff hopes that difficult mission will be a little easier now that more time can be spent on teaching, and less on the logistics of moving groups of kids from one site to another. When school started this year, the students were split among three downtown sites: St. Paul's Methodist Church, the YWCA and Grace Baptist Church.

The distance required a 20-minute interruption between classes, so students could make the trek from one building to another.

Now -- after a waiting-to-move period that became ''six weeks of moderate hell'' -- passing periods have been trimmed to five minutes, and the newfound time is being devoted to reading, said Jennifer Andaluz, DCP's executive director and co-founder.

Other benefits of the move:

-Students can drink from real drinking fountains, instead of filling up paper cups from the restroom faucets.

-There's a bona fide basketball court, ideal for expending excess energy during the lunch hour.

-Hallways are wide enough for several students to pass at once.

Andaluz evokes a scene from the first day at the new site, when she watched several girls in the hall first touch one wall, then walk across to touch the opposite wall. Their comment (as translated by Andaluz): ''It's really kind of big.''

For the staff, the move accomplished a change that was ''huge,'' said English teacher Laura DeRoche. ''We get more time with the kids. Before, I didn't feel like I had an extra second -- for example, to talk with a kid about why he didn't turn in his homework.

''Now we do have the time.''

Administrators soon will know if that translates into improved academic results. The teaching staff has suffered from fairly high turnover, and the most recent Academic Performance Index scores showed a steep decline from the previous year. But high school exit exam results have been more encouraging.

''We're under the same roof now, and we all have the same goal,'' said student Linda Machado, 16. ''It's more like a reality now.''

Although DCP will add another class next year, bringing it to the full complement of grades 9-12, the enrollment will be capped at about 400. Since the new facility has 28,000 square feet, space will remain ample.

Eventually, the plan for DCP is to build its own, permanent site. But in the meantime -- thanks to a leasing arrangement with downtown developer Lew Wolff, which was helped along by the city and the Redevelopment Agency -- everyone is enjoying ''the qualities of a school we hadn't seen before,'' Andaluz said.

That became evident to a group of students who trekked several blocks last week to see the new site.

When they first beheld the sign that said ''Downtown College Prep,'' said Principal Greg Lippman, in their excitement and appreciation, the students spontaneously broke out in applause.

Illustration:Photos (2), Map

PHOTO: RICHARD KOCI HERNANDEZ -- MERCURY NEWS
Sabrini de la Garza and Nick Rojo, both students at Downtown College Prep, enjoy spacious new quarters in a former fitness center.
PHOTO: RICHARD KOCI HERNANDEZ -- MERCURY NEWS
A gymnasium is a luxury the students at Downtown College Prep had not had until last week, when they moved into their new building, a former fitness center on West San Fernando Street.
MAP: MERCURY NEWS
Downtown College Prep High School