Walking the halls of Woodland Hills High School during the 2007-08 school year, Lindsay Bagwell had the sense that "there was going to be a fight almost every period."

In May, members of the Woodland Hills Education Association said that more than 60 teachers had been injured during the school year breaking up fights, and about half were at the high school.

One teacher had a broken kneecap.

"We believe it has reached a point of crisis," Arleen Starr, a staff representative of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said at that time.

The highly charged atmosphere caused Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala to investigate the fights for possible patterns of gang activity.

Some incidents, such as a melee following a bomb threat, were highly disruptive. Ms. Bagwell said she opted to stay home from school the day after that November 2007 incident, in which three students were arrested.

"I was tired of how everything was being handled," she said.

But according to students, security personnel and administrators, a new school year led to a new day at Woodland Hills High School.

Students said they are seeing "way less" in the way of fights than they saw last year and they are able to learn more with fewer distractions inside classrooms.

"I have a greater sense of pride going to school here, knowing it's a positive learning environment," said 17-year-old senior Corey Barbusio. "I feel knowledge is more respected now that there's more discipline."

Senior Greg Harbison, 17, said: "Last year, if somebody asked where I went to school, I'd say Woodland Hills and they would say 'the school where all the bad things happen.' Now, they can't say anything because nothing's going on here."

Many students credited a new administration and stricter disciplinary actions for the changes they see.

Principal Daniel Stephens, who was hired to replace Dr. Margaret Boden in July, said his staff conducted an audit of "every system in place" to identify the school's strengths and areas in need of improvement.

The audit identified "hot spots" where student incidents were most likely to take place, and led Mr. Stephens to create "one-way" hallways and alter the bell system so that students are warned when they have one minute to make it to class.

Mr. Stephens said the major difference in classrooms has been a zero-tolerance approach by teachers toward disturbances. Students receive warnings for disruptive behavior at least twice before being sent to the principal's office.

Instead of out-of-school suspensions, many students are now being punished with detentions and in-school or weekend suspensions. Disruptive students who are removed immediately from classrooms are sent to counselors to discuss their problems.

So far, the approach has yielded nothing but good results, Mr. Stephens said.

"I've had numerous positive responses from parents with kids saying how much better it is in school," he said. "We are a good high school environmentwise, educationwise, the school atmosphere, as you come in, is a typical school."

District Superintendent Dr. Walter Calinger said changes at the high school are reflective of changes in approaches to teaching and discipline made throughout the district. And while he expressed satisfaction with the improved sense of order in schools, he said it was only the beginning of a major overhaul for the district.

"Trying to improve on the discipline without a challenging curriculum is nothing," he said. "What we can have is both."

Woodland Hills is one of seven beneficiaries of the $92.5 million Pennsylvania College Access Challenge Grant. As such, Dr. Calinger said, the district is in the midst of an initiative to steer students toward college with a plan to visit students' homes and inquire about college plans. It is set to kick off around February.

He also noted a plan for a partnership with the Community College of Allegheny County's Boyce Campus that would allow students to take classes for college credit starting in their junior year.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Terry Wallace said that under the plan, the district could send a student to CCAC full time, including the cost of books and transportation, for approximately $5,000 per year -- "half of what it costs to send a child to a charter school."

"If you go to a place like CCAC and got a 3.5 [grade point average] for two years," Dr. Calinger said, "do you know what's going to happen if you apply at Pitt, Penn State, the University of Pennsylvania? Somebody has to stand up and take notice."

He also raised the idea of a Woodland Hills Academy, a comprehensive learning center that would feature smaller class sizes, longer school days and foreign language instruction for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Dr. Calinger said he would like to see all of these initiatives implemented "as soon as possible," but recognizes that financial constraints may put some ideas on hold.

Still, neither the cost of sending 200 students to CCAC, about $1 million, nor the cost of converting the former East Junior High School to Woodland Hills Academy, about $1.5 million, is prohibitive. Dr. Calinger believes the district could find a way to start those plans in the 2009-10 school year.

He also believes some of the district's biggest doubters should be the first to step up as supporters.

"Everyone was willing to write this district off last year," he said. "They threw it on the trash heap of education.

"Stand up now. Stand up, community."