CARLSBAD -- Seventeen-year-old Hector Villarreal was sitting in a hallway at Carlsbad Village Academy last week contemplating his future.

A senior, Hector said he is making all A's and B's in his classes, plans to graduate next spring from Village Academy continuation high school and attend community college.

That's quite a change for Villarreal, who more than a year ago was failing, lost in the shuffle at the 3,000-student Carlsbad High School campus and earning C's, D's, and F's.

"After awhile, why try any more?" he said. "I did pretty good my freshman year, but my sophomore year was just kind of overwhelming. I like (Village Academy). I like these people. In other places, nobody else would give us the time of day."

Hector's story is typical of the students at a school often labeled by the community as some sort of "school for criminals" or juvenile delinquents, said Village Academy Principal Keith Holley.

Holley, who is also director of alternative education for the Carlsbad Unified School District, said that of 240 students who passed through the school last year, only four of them, or less than 2 percent, were sent there because of any sort of behavioral problems.

The others came voluntarily in a decision made by a parent, student and counselor because, for one reason or another, they were unable to keep up and fit in at the big high school.

"They are simply students we are afraid will get lost in the 3,000 students at the high school," Holley said.

Challenging standards

Besides the character of the students who attend the academy, another community misconception is that it is somehow easier and less challenging than the traditional high school, Holley said.

In truth, he said, students must complete the same classes with the same grade standards using the same textbooks as students at the regular high school. They also have to answer to the same state testing standards as they do in a traditional high school.

They just do it at a faster pace, Holley said, because many of the students are playing catch-up on classes they need if they are to graduate on time.

The academy offers three 10-week semesters rather than the traditional two-semester system, which allows students to complete as many as 18 classes for credit a year instead of 12, Holley said.

The classes are kept smaller, Holley said, so the students can have more one-on-one time with teachers. The student-to-teacher ratio is closer to 20-to-1 at Village Academy, Holley said, adding that classes at Carlsbad High often have more than 30 students.

Holley said the positive results can be seen in the 99 percent completion and passing rates of academy students in their courses. Many of these are students who might have only been passing one out of six classes at the traditional high school.

"I'm really proud of that," he said.

Many new students are so far behind there is no way they will graduate with their classmates. With the smaller campus, smaller classes, more one-on-one contract with teachers and faster pace, many stay only a semester or two and return to Carlsbad High to be handed a diploma with their class, he said.

Others such as Villarreal said they enjoy the small school environment so well they stay to graduate at the academy.

Parents praise the academy

Hector's mother, Christina Villarreal, said she feels the school has made all the difference for not only her son Hector, but for her daughter, Christina. Now 19, her daughter is attending a community college in Riverside County and plans to go on to a university to become a social worker.

The mother said her daughter transferred from Carlsbad High at the start of her senior year and "she just opened up."

"She became more involved," she said. "She was happy to go to school every day. She felt the teachers really cared and really gave that extra effort."

As for her son, she said "everything (at Carlsbad High) was too busy … everything was too big."

"I see him growing (at Village Academy)," she said. "I see him happier."

Villarreal isn't the only parent happy with how the academy has helped at-risk students.

Autumn Wallace said she was so impressed by the help the academy gave her son, David Dau -- now 20 and working on a bachelor's degree in commercial advertising -- that she came to work for the school as an administrative assistant.

"They gave him wonderful support," she said. "They gave him a lot of self-esteem, self-worth. It was such a great place for kids, I wanted to be here."

Teachers said they enjoy not only the school, but the results they can see in students every day.

"It is a fun place to be, not only for them but for us," said teacher Bob Ingersoll.

Photography, history and environmental science teacher Joe Dunn said he has good reason to understand the school, the students and their challenges.

A Carlsbad High student in the late 1980s, he ended up at the academy (when it was known as La Palma) because of "a little too much surfing, and not enough homework."

"I was just having too much fun," he said.

He went on to Palomar College and then to Cal State San Marcos to earn a degree and teaching credential, returning to teach at the academy last year.

"I'm really happy to be here with these kids," he said. "I feel I can help get them back on track. I always felt I had a good perspective."

Science and physical education teacher Eric Ezeir said teaching at the academy gives him more time to spend with each teen.

"You connect with them, you motivate them, and then you can teach them," he said.

Why the reputation?

So why do continuation schools so often have a bad reputation?

Holley said it's because many school districts lower the standards for continuation schools, using them as dumping grounds for troublemaking students and as punishment for bad teachers and administrators.

"It is a way of segregating serious discipline problems from the mainstream population," he said. "You can really tell those districts have given up on those kids."

In Carlsbad Unified School District, Holley said, students with severe discipline, criminal or drug problems are sent to the court school system operated by the San Diego Office of Education rather than being sent to Village Academy.

Rick Nieves said that in the eight years he has been the supervisor in charge of campus security, he has had only a handful of problems with students.

"Honestly, they are good kids," Nieves said. "They've just had some bad breaks now and then. The kids respect you, and you give them back respect."

Contact staff writer Tim Mayer at (760) 901-4043 or tmayer@nctimes.com.