At El Monte High, It’s the Three C’s: Caring, Compassion, Commitment : The campus is a finalist for U.S. Education Dept.’s Blue Ribbon School contest.

At a time when overburdened public schools often find salvation in financial support from parents, a San Gabriel Valley high school with modest resources has found a different way to the top.

Despite the obstacles many of its students face, from limited English skills to teen-age pregnancy, El Monte High School has been chosen as a finalist in the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon School contest.

One of only two high schools in Los Angeles County to make the cut, El Monte High is expecting a visit from a federal representative this month that will determine whether it wins.

Students and educators say El Monte High is successful not just because the school has restructured its curriculum toward career paths, which it has. It’s not just because more and more students are graduating, which they do. It’s simply that teachers, counselors and administrators go out of their way for just about every teen-ager who walks through the school’s gates.

“When speaking with the students, they all felt that people there cared about them regardless of whatever else had happened to them,” said Carol Kennedy, a state Department of Education official who inspected the school two years ago. “That isn’t necessarily all that common.”

More often, Kennedy said, the pervasive attitude among school staff goes something like this: “ ‘Well, we do the best we can,’ but everyone still goes home at 3 o’clock.”

Principal Nick Salerno regularly stays into the evening when his school needs him.

“I’m not in my office that much, to be honest,” said Salerno, on lunch supervision duty in the crowded cafeteria. Amid the din of conversation and the smell of hot french fries, the former coach and teacher greeted passing students by name.

Many at the school credit Salerno with helping to set the harmonious tone on campus that has guided increasing numbers of students toward graduation. The school’s dropout rate has fallen to about 1% last year from about 13% in 1987, according to state figures.

In the cafeteria, one grateful student walked toward Salerno to say hello. Senior Jonathan Ravera, 18, who has had to stay an extra year to accumulate enough credits to graduate, said he owes his success to his teachers and his principal, who didn’t give up on him.

“He’s more of a friend than a principal,” said Ravera, a car enthusiast whose mother supports him working as a housekeeper. For his first two years at El Monte High, Ravera said he cut class repeatedly. The reality of life without a high school diploma didn’t hit him until his junior year, when counselors and teachers explained to him that he would not graduate on time. Then the principal called Ravera into his office to lay out the boy’s options.

“He helps you find your own answer,” Ravera said. “Now I know what to do, because without a diploma, you aren’t really anything. . . . I don’t want to work for minimum wage.”

Some parents in El Monte get by earning even less than minimum wage, school employees say. Nearly one-third of the city’s children live in poverty, according to 1990 census figures. At the high school, more than three-quarters of the 1,800 students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, subsidized by the federal government.

El Monte’s graduation record is especially impressive given that more than 40% of the school’s students have limited English proficiency. Immigrants from Latin America and Asia often enter the school midway through their studies with years of catching up to do, or other problems.

Many students make it to graduation day, school observers say, because employees are committed to nurturing and guiding them.

“No effort was spared to see that these kids made it, not just staying alive, but helping them go on to junior colleges, and finding scholarships for them to go on to four-year schools, and jobs,” said Kennedy, who coordinates the California School Recognition Program.

After Kennedy visited El Monte High in consideration for the California Distinguished School Award, she said she was particularly impressed at the way the school involved outside community service groups and parents to help students with their personal dilemmas. The school won the state award last year. Counselor Steve Garcia said paying attention to students’ emotions can often reveal just as much about them as their grades, their attendance or the number of times they are sent to detention.

For 13-year-old freshman Danielle Smith, Garcia was there when she needed him. At home, Danielle said she felt awkward asking for more money to buy paper because her mother had so many bills to pay. So she missed handing in several assignments.

Not long afterward, Danielle said, Garcia saw her in the hallway and asked why. Paper, she explained. So he bought her a spiral notebook, and Danielle’s problem was solved.

“I love Mr. Garcia because he’s been there for me,” she said. “Even if he’s busy, he’ll talk to me if I need to talk.”

“The truth is,” Salerno said, “we genuinely care about them, and kids pick up on that.”