`187' CREATOR HOPES FILM WILL LEAD TO SAFER SCHOOLS.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

Seven years of substitute teaching in San Fernando Valley high schools left writer Scott Yagemann with three things: a compassion for educators, a distrust of administrators and a screenplay.

Yagemann is the man behind the controversial drama ``187,'' which opens Wednesday. Inspired by Yagemann's experiences, the film portrays a fictional Valley high school as a gang-ruled, graffiti-covered war zone.

``It's closer to `Taxi Driver' than `To Sir, With Love,' '' says Yagemann of ``187.'' ``When I was writing I wasn't thinking about being politically correct. It's a brutal depiction of a worst-case scenario.''

The film stars Samuel L. Jackson as substitute science teacher Trevor Garfield, a deeply religious man who moves to the Valley after being stabbed by an angry student in the hallways of a school in Brooklyn.

Garfield hopes to put his past behind him. Instead, he finds himself in a school where teen-age thugs harass and threaten teachers on a daily basis while image-conscious administrators - fearful of being sued - do nothing.

The two mothers in the film are afraid of their children. One tearfully confesses that she prays for her son to die. The lone girl character has sex with a burned-out teacher and tries desperately to hide the fact that she studies.

In the end, the chaos of the campus hastens Garfield's mental unraveling. He decides to mete out his own punishment against the gangs, with horrific results.

The idea for ``187'' - the title refers to the code for homicide in California's penal system - was kindled by a real-life incident. While substituting at a junior high, Yagemann was threatened by a transfer student, who pledged to kill Yagemann and his family.

Yagemann reported the threat to authorities and the boy was arrested. Eventually, Yagemann learned that the student had stabbed a teaching assistant at another school.

Yagemann was furious that he hadn't been told of the student's violent past. His anger became the motivation for writing a screenplay. He hopes it will open a national debate on discipline and safety.

``I'm holding a mirror up to what I think is bad about the system,'' he says. ``Some people believe it's exaggerated. But 90 percent actually happened to me or was told to me by other teachers.''

If the film is a success, it may draw support for a measure making its way through the California Legislature, coincidentally titled Senate Bill 187, introduced by state Sen. Teresa Hughes, D-Inglewood.

SB 187 would force school districts to annually assess crime statistics on each campus and develop plans to maintain a certain level of safety.

According to a Louis Harris poll conducted for Metropolitan Life and cited at the film's end, one in nine teachers has been attacked in school, and 95 percent of those attacks are committed by students.

A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that 13.9 percent of the Los Angeles Unified School District's 667,000 students say they have brought a gun to school.

Yagemann blames the safety problems on campuses here on overcrowding and on administrators who are more concerned about the self-esteem of students than the safety of teachers.

``There are a lot of kids that are really great,'' he says. ``But the system caters to the troublemakers instead of the kids that want an education.''

A spokeswoman for the American Federation of Teachers says the film's unrelenting grim texture and its fantastical ending make it easy to dismiss as nonsense. That's a shame, she says, because teachers are pushing for reform of policies related to dangerous students and could use the help of a hit movie.

``The film is preposterous,'' says Donna Fowler, director of public relations for the AFT. ``I know the producers think they're starting a dialogue. But that notion, based on this film, is very arrogant.''

Fowler saw the movie at a screening earlier this year. Although she liked the portrayal of administrators as detached, she thinks the film's far-fetched twists of plot won't trigger any serious soul-searching about schools.

``The air of constant menace blows it completely out of proportion.''

Other teachers, however, say they see the film sparking a much-needed debate about teacher safety.

Alice LaDeane, who taught in Northridge and Beverly Hills before retiring, calls the film ``excellent.'' She screened it with members of the Los Angeles Film Teachers Association, which was invited to see the movie in January. The association works with Hollywood to get students and teachers into free previews.

``It's sort of a wakeup call for all of us,'' LaDeane says. ``I'm just glad my kids have moved away (from Los Angeles) and taken my grandchildren with them. I'm sure the administrators would shoot me for saying that. But you watch Samuel Jackson and you feel his dedication and then just watch his life disintegrate while those fat-cat administrators just bury their heads in the sand.''

Another teacher wrote to the film's publicist saying ``the story seemed so close to the reality of teachers' situations today that I wondered if it might be based on actual incidents.''

Ironically, an actual incident involving a teacher also involves Warner Bros., the studio that released the film. In early June, Jonathan Levin, the 31-year-old son of Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin, was found brutally slain in his Manhattan apartment. Levin was an English teacher, and the 19-year-old man arrested in his killing was a former student.

So far, there has been no word on the film from officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District. A spokeswoman says administrators are unfamiliar with the film and were not invited to preview screenings, and therefore have no comment.

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Photo: Scott Yagemann, left, joins actors Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez, center, and Mel Gibson on the ``187'' set.