Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Principal Melva Belcher hugs students earlier this month at William Ruffner Middle School. Belcher has launched more tutoring and after-school programs at Ruffner, once seen as the epitome of everything that was wrong with urban schools.

The hallways at William Ruffner Middle School hop with the barely contained hormonal enthusiasm of hundreds of preteens. Principal Melva Belcher stands at the intersection of two hallways, like a rock in a flood, watching students flow from one class to the next.

She holds a walkie-talkie and dozens of keys on a thick key ring. You can hear the radio squawk and the keys jangle long before you see her.

She nods slowly and murmurs to herself, a stern look on her face.

"Good job," she says to a boy walking quietly. "You need a belt," to a boy pulling up his baggy pants.

Belcher, it's clear, won't tolerate any funny business. And appreciative parents, students and teachers are feeling hopeful about the long-troubled Northwest Roanoke school.

"She's more strict," said seventh-grader Aliscia Bratton, admiration in her voice. "We mostly used to do anything we wanted to last year."

For years Ruffner seemed to epitomize everything that was wrong with urban schools. If you heard about Ruffner, chances were it was because of fights. Or because test scores had revealed it to be underperforming, once again. It got so bad that the school saw an exodus of teachers and students over the past two years. Enrollment this year stands at 381, down from 506 two years ago.

Former Principal Mark Hairston resigned at the end of last year, and Belcher took over, after spending four years leading Westside Elementary School. She launched more tutoring and after-school programs, and invited help from city school administrators and state consultants. And she cracked down on discipline, mandating that teachers escort students from class to class, a small change that has made a big difference.

"It's more structured," said Sadie Elliotte, an eighth-grader. "That's better than having kids more liable to skip because you're not escorted to the next class."

But two weeks ago, the school board delivered a blow when it announced it was considering closing Ruffner in the next school year to save money. To many, it seemed as though the school was being undercut, just as it was righting itself.

"It feels like the foundation has been knocked out from under us," said Debra Swain-Elliotte, Sadie's mother.

She's already put an older daughter through Ruffner and has a son in fifth grade. Last year, she watched as many parents pulled their children out of the school. Parents "didn't want to see if things would improve," she said. "And things have improved, and now they're closing it."

After the faculty departures, Ruffner hired several young teachers still relatively new to the profession. One of those is John Marks, a recent college graduate and sixth-grade math teacher in his second year at Ruffner. A product of an inner-city middle school in Durham, N.C., Marks knew what to expect.

"It's a job where I can make a big impact and see that impact," he said. "I love the underdog story."

Marks peppers his students with questions, forcing them to think on their feet. On one recent morning, students split into groups of two or three and had to quickly multiply fractions, write the answer on white boards and then raise them.

"Oh, help me," a girl pleaded to her teammates as time was running out.

"I don't know this," her partner replied, almost frantic. "I've got an A in math, but I don't know this."

The classroom door stays open, and the hallways are deserted during class time. Words such as "heterozygotes" and "meiosis" occasionally drift in from the science class across the hall.

In the back of Marks' class, a boy and a girl were falling behind, getting frustrated and starting to bicker. The teacher and an aide offered help and encouragement. Later that day, in the lunch line, the boy would pull Marks aside and ask for help with a science fair project.

In sixth grade, it's not uncommon for scores to plunge on math Standards of Learning tests. That's because teachers start introducing abstract math concepts to students who are also dealing with the new stresses of middle school. Marks faces an even greater challenge: Many of his students are not native English speakers.

Last year, four out of five English-language learners at Ruffner failed the SOL math test. They were the lowest-scoring group in one of the lowest-scoring middle schools in the state. Ruffner has not met federal and state standards in four years, but today, teachers invoke the SOL tests like a mantra, trying to build confidence in their students. Early benchmark tests have shown promising results.

If Ruffner is going to improve this year, Marks' classroom will be the crucible. That's a lot of pressure to place on a 24-year-old teacher. But he is undaunted.

"There are so many little successes that we're hoping to build into major successes," he said.

Ruffner has gone out of its way to focus on those little successes this year. Before the news of the school's possible closing broke, teachers and administrators had hoped to make the middle school a central part of the neighborhood.

Belcher went to churches, fraternities and sororities to find regular mentors for the students. Teachers reached out to parents, some of whom work multiple jobs or are struggling with poverty. The new PTA president planned to groom parent advocates. And the school system had recruited Gloria Charlton, a veteran of Total Action Against Poverty youth initiatives, to lead a new grant-funded after-school program.

Like many school turnaround efforts, it was supposed to unfold steadily over several years.

"In education, I don't think there are major changes," Belcher said several days before the school board's announcement. "It's just refocusing."

Although parents say they understand the budget crisis facing the school system, they can't help but worry about how closing Ruffner will affect students.

"I see where they have to make their budget cuts, but it hurts more because education's most important to these kids," said Siddeeqah Rowe, whose oldest child is in seventh grade and who has a fifth-grade son who was expected to go to Ruffner.

If Belcher has misgivings about closing, she's not talking. Instead, she shrugs and says: "We're just moving forward. Continuing with our instructional rigor."

That rigor was on display in Marks' class, where his fidgety students had to submit to one final test before he freed them for lunch.

"One prime number after 13," he quizzed a student.

"Seventeen."

"Get out of here."

The student scampered.

To another: "Five raised to the zero power."

"Five?"

"No."

"Zero?"

"No."

"One?"

"Get out of here."