CHARTER SCHOOL BROADCAST TO AIR STUDENTS' TALENTS.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

The camera is ready, the lines memorized. And when two 11-year-old anchors deliver a live broadcast to the school's 45 classrooms today, Fenton Avenue Charter School will make California history.

After 10 months of wiring classrooms, hooking up cables and plugging in computers, Fenton Charter Broadcasting is on the air.

``We're making our dream happen,'' said Joe Lucente, the charter school's co-director. ``This studio is an integral part of our overall mission - giving our students the technology tools to reach out and touch their future.''

Fenton also becomes the first elementary school in the state to operate an on-site broadcasting studio.

In 1994, Fenton became one of 10 charter schools in the L.A. Unified School District giving administrators freedom to establish programs and curriculum tailored to their students.

Hoping to meet - if not surpass - technology programs in other schools throughout the state, Fenton redirected funds from its $6 million overall 1996-97 operating budget to spend $1.3 million on its own campus technology programs this year, Lucente said.

GTE wired the school with a ``backbone'' sound, data and image network. Educational Management Group (EMG), which creates multimedia educational tools, hooked up the satellite.

Fenton's budget - combined with grants from the Mattel Foundation and the Riordan Foundation - paid for implementation, software and other computer supplies, Lucente said.

The school has agreed to 10-year financing with GTE and five-year financing with EMG.

The idea for implementing a studio at Fenton was sparked last year when the school's staff was seeking new technology programs to offer its 1,300 students. During Lucente's research, he stumbled upon an on-site studio while visiting out-of-state schools.

``The Fenton technology story is the story of providing state-of-the-art functionality to kids, many of whom are disadvantaged,'' Lucente said. ``We want to give them the possibility to compete with, as well as become, the best of the best.''

The studio itself is part of a much bigger technology picture, explained Doug Bean, sixth-grade teacher and Fenton's technology coordinator.

Over the summer, compact disc interactive computer stations were installed in all classrooms. Each room has a minimum of four computers with programs for math, history, art and critical thinking. The upper elementary grades also have access to a network database of more than 350 lessons.

``We are implementing a student driven technology plan - not a technology driven student plan,'' Bean said. ``We think globally, and act locally. We expect our students to do the same.''

Behind closed doors, the makeshift studio can easily go unnoticed.

Two mauve chairs are surrounded by plain, beige walls. Thick black curtains block sunlight. A sixth-grade teacher is the director - and cameraman. And two 11-year-olds are the anchors.

CNN has no competition here.

But the two, 11-year-old anchors are confident their broadcast will impress state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, who is scheduled to tour the school today as Fenton premieres its first live broadcast.

Sixth-graders Carla Lopez and Delacy Watts, who were picked as this year's anchors, plan to welcome the superintendent with an inaugural broadcast.

The youngsters were chosen because they addressed the Board of Education in 1994 urging trustees to approve Fenton as a charter school.

As Delacy practiced his lines for the live broadcast, the 11-year-old said the experience would help his future career.

``I want to be president someday,'' Delacy said. ``This will teach me how to get votes.''

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PHOTO Sixth-graders Carla Lopez and Delacy Watts will be anchors for Fenton Charter Broadcasting.

Phil McCarten/Daily News