He contacted Oprah.

"Now I know that because I am a student that had problems in a normal school that if this place closes down that I will have problems getting a diploma," wrote John, a junior who rides a van 45 minutes north from Milton to Dane County Transition School in Madison.

"I hope you can help us."

After 15 years of educating students with fragile futures, Transition School itself faces a test of survival.

The publicly funded alternative school is in danger of closing as early as this summer.

School districts are purchasing fewer slots for students in Transition School, preferring instead to keep students, and the funding that goes with them, by expanding their own alternative education programs.

Enrollment is down to 29, compared to 49 two years ago.

The dwindling enrollment, in turn, threatens to cause the cost per student to skyrocket. If the school remains open next year, the cost per student may rise from the current $11,400 to $15,000 or even beyond $20,000 — a level so high above the average statewide spending level that the tuition would have to be subsidized by the school's private foundation.

Principal Judy Reed, who founded Transition School in 1992, has cried over the school's financial crisis.

"I don't want the school to close," said Reed, a high-energy bundle who begins her workday at 5:30 a.m. by writing notes while working out on a treadmill. "I don't want to lose these kids and I don't want them to drop out."

Transition School serves as a laboratory where close rapport between staff and students is encouraged and teaching methods are adjusted at a moment's notice as teachers try to engage students in learning.

At the school, which occupies a worn collection of upstairs rooms at the back of Villager Mall, 2326 S. Park St. on Madison's South Side, students and staff are on a first-name basis.

Reed has compiled figures showing that more than 97 percent of Transition School's students earn high school diplomas, which are awarded by the home school districts.

'The redesign stage'

But what's best for students?

And for taxpayers?

Stoughton, Verona and Sun Prairie are among the districts that in the past several years have expanded homegrown alternative education programs and stopped sending students to Transition School. Madison always has kept its students within the district's own programs.

"Quite frankly it was simply a weighing of all of the cost benefits that led us to believe there would be other ways of serving those students that would be more cost effective," Stoughton schools Superintendent Mary Gavigan said.

She described the district's alternative education programs as "still very much ... in the redesign stage" but said students are benefiting from improved teacher training, a program that allows students to earn diplomas by demonstrating proficiency rather than by earning high school credits, and other measures.

Verona schools Superintendent Dean Gorrell said Transition School has a good reputation, but the district halted its support because leaders felt "we've got a lot of horsepower in our staff and we can create a great alternative education program right here." Gorrell said the program, which operates in a wing of a high school building, succeeds because its classes are "more meaningful" for students who didn't find success in the traditional high school.

To assess Transition School's future, one of its strongest backers, Belleville schools superintendent Randy Freese, has begun conferring with Reed and the superintendents of Oregon and Mount Horeb schools, whose districts purchase several slots apiece at Transition School.

Freese said he believes the school, which has a budget of about $390,000, is run well but the superintendents will seek ways to increase efficiency.

It's possible, Freese said, that it'll make more sense to close Transition School and to find alternative programs for students by transferring them to districts' existing programs, to online schools or to new partnerships among districts.

Transition School's students help hold down costs by cleaning the bathrooms and classrooms, and they often answer the phone. There are no janitors or secretaries.

A foundation, formed several years ago by two local Rotary clubs to support the school, contributed about $35,000 to this year's operations and is scrambling to marshal enough funding to keep the school open.

Some officials at districts such as McFarland, Oregon, Wisconsin Heights and New Glarus, and virtually all students at Transition School say the school needs to stay open because it gives students a final opportunity to avoid dropping out of school — and because many students succeed there after failing in their home school districts.

"For us, I think we'd always have a need for Dane County Transition School," said McFarland schools Superintendent Scott Brown, who called it a "phenomenal asset" that aids students who don't flourish in the district's own alternative education program.

Brown said Transition School complements other alternative education programs available to county students. Those efforts include Operation Fresh Start, which combines classes with on-the-job training in homebuilding skills; Wisconsin National Guard Challenge Academy, a program offering classes and experiences ranging from rappelling to community service; and Omega School, which offers classes in basic subjects and life skills such as balancing a checkbook.

"Our school system was set up for a factory model that has not changed in 100 years and it's growing more and more distant from what we need," said Deedra Atkinson, United Way of Dane County senior vice president of community building and an Oregon School Board member. Her daughter, Audra, is a graduate of Transition School.

Alternative education programs are part of United Way's countywide strategy to curb dropout rates, which according to the state Department of Public Instruction ranged from 1 percent in Belleville to 15 percent in Madison during the 2006-07 school year.

Even in Oregon, where officials are delighted with Transition School, educators are exploring ways to expand the district's own alternative education programs — a move that eventually could reduce funding for Transition School.

There's a need for alternative education programs, Atkinson said, so that students can get away from negative peer influences ranging from drugs to fights and gangs.

To attain that fresh start, she said, students should move away from the main high school — either across town or in another community. It sometimes works best, Atkinson said, for districts to collaborate to set up those alternative education programs.

Compared to traditional high schools, the Transition School is both more loosely structured and faster-paced. The day begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m., making the day about one hour shorter than that of a traditional high school. Each day starts with half an hour of reading newspapers and discussing current events. There are five or six 40-minute class periods, compared to seven 45-minute periods common at most other schools.

Class schedules often are changed on the spur of the moment to accommodate a class that runs late.

Like their counterparts across the state, the school's 10th graders must take the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination.

The school's curriculum is designed to connect to the same Wisconsin academic standards used at all public schools.

But it's unique and ever-changing.

The courses, known as Interest Groups, last five weeks apiece instead of 16 to 18 weeks commonly found in a semester.

On a handwritten list on the door to Reed's office, students and staff suggest courses, which are selected by votes of the students.

Among the recent offerings were an anatomy and vocabulary-building class that focused upon the "House" television series; a history, social studies and film class that focused on the "Sopranos" television series; a social studies and math class called Rock and Roll Road Trip that's designing a trip that students will take to see a band perform; and two literature and history classes focusing upon the novels "Good Omens" and "The Silent Men."

The school also emphasizes service learning projects such as renovating and decorating chairs for a breast cancer fundraiser, ecological restoration projects and collecting unused toiletries from hotel visits to give to homeless people.

Reed and her staff acknowledge the school lacks the academic rigor found in some high schools, particularly advanced placement courses.

But the goal of Transition School, they say, is different, and it's based upon sound educational research.

Reed and the teachers strive to build connections to students who haven't found success in traditional schools, to instill in them a passion for learning, and to help them advance as far as possible, culminating with a high school diploma and self-sufficient lifestyle.

Teacher Bill Kean, who formerly worked as a Hortonville classroom teacher, Mount Horeb assistant principal and city of Madison police officer, said those experiences and other observations over the years have shown him that many students who barely attained diplomas in traditional high schools "knew far less than the students here."

That conclusion was echoed by other educators, including Freese, who said he's "willing to trade engagement for rigor."

To attain that level of engagement, teachers rarely lecture at length, opting instead for hands-on learning in classrooms and outdoors.

One morning in March, students in a cooking class used a hotplate to make crepes and whipping cream.

They followed a recipe from "La Technique," a cookbook by French cook Jacques Pepin.

"Wookie is going to show you how it's done," said Kevin Evanco, who has taught at the school for 12 years.

Soon the teacher playfully splashed several drops of cream on Wookie — the nickname of Colin Marquardt, who often can be heard trilling like the character in Star Wars and who as the third-oldest in a family of nine children is the only not to be home-schooled. His mother drives him half an hour from the Sauk Prairie School District.

"I learn better there," said Wookie, who expects to graduate this spring, get an apartment and a job and save money to continue his education — probably at Madison Area Technical College.

Without Transition School, he said, "I wouldn't have graduated on time. I might have dropped out."

Electric guitar riffs began echoing throughout the classrooms as an introductory guitar class got under way.

Teachers Jay Hanson and Ken Martin left the building with several students enrolled in a "Hooks and Books" class which combines fly fishing with reading.

A block away, down Hughes Place, they stood under the bright sun on a snow-covered field behind Lincoln Elementary and cast their rods — practice for the day they'll go to Mount Vernon Creek to catch trout.

"A lot of these kids, they don't really have childhoods because of their family lives," Martin said as the students continued casting — and too much snapping of the lines showed they were bringing their rod tips forward too fast. "It's always baby steps with these guys. You can't undo 17 years' worth of damage with one year of DCTS."

Student Cody Langner, a Mount Horeb student known by everybody as "Chief," said he's attended Transition School for two years and expects to earn enough credits to graduate in December.

The teachers, he said, have a knack for explaining what they want students to learn, so he's dropped his old habit of skipping assignments.

Chief, who is widely regarded as a school leader who has helped protect fellow student John from bullying, said that Reed and the teachers have helped him grow as a person. He's had just one angry outburst in two years at the school.

"It really is a privilege to be there," Chief said.

If the school doesn't open in the fall, Chief said, he'll probably drop out rather than return to Mount Horeb High School, where he fears he'd get into fights with teachers and students.

He knows that John's letter to Oprah, and other fundraising appeals launched by students and staff, may fall short. The school may close.

"But we still figure it's worth a chance," Chief said.

Teacher Lizz Bally, who worked at the school as a student teacher, said John, Chief and their classmates will help determine whether Transition School survives.

"We try to be as honest with them as we can, and try to help them sort of be their own advocates in keeping the school open," Bally said. "I just think the school needs to stay open. The kids need it. And we need help."