The day starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 1:30 p.m. Classes are limited to 10 students, and much of the instruction is one-on-one. Coursework emphasizes the fundamentals: English, social studies and math/science. Good behavior is required.

So is entering school through a metal detector.

Since it opened on Nov. 15, the V.I.S.A. Center for Children Suspended from School for Violence has served the needs of roughly 200 students from the Buffalo Public Schools.

Part of the UB School of Social Work and located in the Acheson Annex on the South Campus, the center is the first university and school-system collaboration of its kind in the nation, offering students who have been suspended from the Buffalo Public Schools for acts of violence an intensive, two-week program of academic work and counseling. The program, which serves up to 30 youths at a time, is for students in grades 7-10, although older students may participate with permission.

Hundreds of Buffalo public schoolchildren are suspended from school each year for violence, threats of violence, weapons possession or other disruptive actions. Prior to the opening of the V.I.S.A. Center, suspended students sat at home. By law, they received two hours of in-home instruction, which may have helped them continue their academics but did nothing to address the behavior that got them suspended in the first place.

Six months after opening its doors, approximately one in four students suspended from school for violence is choosing to participate in the center's program.

"A lot of students are here (at the center) because their academics are poor, and they get frustrated and act out," said Linda Lavid, senior clinician at the V.I.S.A. Center and a social worker with the Buffalo Public Schools.

Staying at home is not helpful to these students, noted David Cumberlander, program security specialist. "They need to stay in the school routine."

Participation in the V.I.S.A. Center program is voluntary. Each student and a parent or guardian must sign a contract agreeing to abide by the center's behavior guidelines. In addition to academic coursework, students participate in group counseling that deals with such topics as anger management, conflict resolution, communication and social skills, drugs and alcohol, violence in the media, assertiveness, stress management and self-esteem.

The group counseling "is very interactive," said Lavid. "We talk about feelings, problems at school and home, problems with peers. The emphasis is on behavior management because a lot of these kids have impulse-control problems."

Once enrolled in the program, students are assigned to a class of no more than 10, where teachers work with them individually. Classes are a mix of all ages. Students have come from virtually every school in the Buffalo district; roughly two-thirds of them are boys.

The center is having a positive effect, Lavid said, although proof of its success is largely anecdotal. The School of Social Work will analyze program results over the summer.

But actions speak louder than words, or statistical analyses. Students don't want to leave the program after their 10 days are over. The center offers a comfortable environment where they receive individual attention and learn coping techniques, according to Cumberlander. "They value the place."

The program is effective, too. Of the 200 students who have been assigned to the V.I.S.A. Center, only a handful have repeated the program.

"I thought it would be more," Cumberlander said.

"You see a real difference in the students from the time they enter the program until the time they leave," Lavid said. "When they come in, they're sour, sullen, withdrawn. They don't want to be here. But after a few days, you notice a change. They're doing their hair differently, dressing differently. They're smiling."

The program is becoming increasingly popular with parents, too. Lavid said that as more students go through the V.I.S.A. Center, parents are learning about it from each other and seeing its effectiveness.

Students fill out an exit interview upon completion of the program that allows them to express what they liked and disliked about the program.

What do they like the most? The support and respect they receive at the center, said Lavid.

What do they dislike the most? The lunches.

The Buffalo Public Schools also are seeing the results.

"One of the students who participated in the program went back to his school, and the principal called us and asked if we'd done a lobotomy on him, his behavior was so different," Lavid said. "A couple of months later, the principal called again and said that while the student was starting to act up a little again, he still was behaving much better than before he'd come to the V.I.S.A. Center."

The V.I.S.A. Center is financed by a New York State Legislative Initiative Grant of $700,000 funded by state Assembly Deputy Speaker Arthur O. Eve and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The program will continue through June 8, and will resume in the fall.