Supporters and detractors alike say Evans is tough and fair. She has brought a new seriousness to CRLS. Top on her list: cutting down on students who cut class or come late.

Yesterday, for example, each CRLS small school held a school-wide meeting. Students who came late were moved to a small cafeteria, where Evans stayed with them for the entire hour.

"I believe that every minute in this building counts, every minute for every building. I can't tolerate hanging around," she says.

Evans was hired by Cambridge Superintendent of Schools Bobbie J. D'Alessandro specifically to devise a plan for redesigning CRLS. And no one denies that she is devoted to restructuring.

Evans was not the first to talk about changing CRLS, nor was she the first to make ambitious efforts at finding a solution. But she is the first to implement a full-scale restructuring program.

Throughout the '90s, school officials have worried about the poor performance of poor and minority students. When Kenneth E. Reeves '72 was mayor, he interviewed every CRLS graduate, hoping to figure out what made the difference between students who did well and others who just got by.

For several years before Evans came, an ad hoc committee of teachers had been meeting every so often to discuss a redesign, but the process was bogged down.

Two years ago, CRLS teachers held a vote at D'Alessandro's request to decide the future of the faculty committee. Only 40 percent favored continuing with the existing process. The majority chose to hand over responsibility to the school department.