By Jessie Mangaliman, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Sep. 6--For the second time in almost two months, the Alum Rock Union School District board held a public hearing Wednesday on a proposed charter school, exposing a divide in the community on the issue of how best to help underachieving students.

By Jessie Mangaliman, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Sep. 5--For the second time in almost two months, the Alum Rock Union School District board will hold a public hearing tonight on a proposed charter school for underachieving middle school students.

By San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Jul. 16--Over the past five years, the Alum Rock school district has made significant strides in introducing school innovations and raising student test scores. Last week, though, it stumbled badly.

By Linda Seebach Scripps Howard News Service Columnist Joanne Jacobs hitched her wagon to a star: Downtown College Prep, a charter high school in San Jose, Calif., whose students are almost all poor, Hispanic and years behind their grade level when they arrive as ninth-graders.