Lessons From a ‘Town Torn Apart’ : Television: ‘L.A. Law’s’ Michael Tucker finds the role of unconventional New England principal Dennis Littky ‘one of the best parts I’ve ever had.’

When Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry first visited Thayer High School in Winchester, N.H., they were amazed to find all the lights on at 9:30 p.m.--and a group of students working inside.

“You could tell immediately,” Tucker recalls, “that for these kids, this was their safe place, their happy place. How many schools can you say that about?”

Tucker was convinced by then that he wanted to play the role of the man responsible for creating that haven for previously lost kids: the principal, Dennis Littky.

Littky had already been the subject of articles and TV newsmagazine pieces, and now it seemed time to turn his story into movie-of-the-week stuff. The result, “A Town Torn Apart,” airs at 9 tonight on NBC.

Littky--bearded, independent and iconoclastic--became principal of Thayer in 1981 and started to turn it around with his strong ideas about motivating kids. But his methods, style and appearance were unconventional (he shunned ties and jackets and lived like a mountain man in a small cabin), and he soon found himself embroiled in a battle for his survival with the townspeople and the school board.

Eventually, he won. His programs and ideas now are used as models around the country, and he has a stack of Principal of the Year awards to his credit.

Although other producers had approached him, Littky finally agreed to turn over his story to Lyle Poncher, who had previously been involved only with feature films.

“I could tell he was a good person, and he seemed to really care about this issue,” says Littky, who insisted that nothing be done while the controversy was still brewing. “I think it’s far enough in the distance now that it’s OK, but I hope it doesn’t embarrass anyone or cause problems in this town, because I’d hate to stir up all that emotion again.”

All the participants in the film--Poncher’s executive producing partners, Victoria Riskin and Jon Slan; writer Anne Gerard; director Dan Petrie and the stars--agreed with Littky that the movie had to show what a school, and its students, can become if everyone works together with new approaches.

Littky is a project-oriented educator. Subjects such as economics, history and English are combined in activities that may take as much time outside the classroom as inside, whether it’s putting together voter registration booklets or spending time with professionals in town.

“To some parents and school board members, it didn’t look like the kids were learning,” Littky recalls of his early struggles, “because they weren’t sitting down listening to a teacher lecture. I was asked, ‘Why aren’t they learning English?’ but I had one kid who learned to read by spending time in a gas station on a project.”

Poncher believes Littky “is a missionary for a style of education whose time has come. We’re telling a dramatic story about kids learning by doing, not by being told.”

Adds Riskin: “Dennis represents a whole other approach. He knows the name of every student in his school, he goes into every classroom to spend time, he’s not following any old structures.”

Yet Littky, and director Petrie, felt it was very important not to heroize his character to the extent that it gives viewers the chance to cop out: “My own concern,” says Littky, “is that if it makes me too much a great guy, others will say, ‘Oh, sure, it happened in that school because of him, but it could never happen in ours.’ ”

“It was very important, and also, frankly, more interesting, not to make him too heroic in the film,” Petrie adds. “He has some Achilles’ heels and that only adds to his humanity.”

It also made him a more interesting character for Tucker to play.

“It’s certainly one of the best parts I’ve ever had,” says the “L.A. Law” star, who is now talking with the network about an ongoing series based on the character. “He’s so different from most everyone I’ve played, though he has some of the brilliance and iconoclasm of Leo Szilard,” the nuclear physicist Tucker played in “Day One.” “They both have trouble with authority figures and neither are literal thinkers. Dennis is complex, immensely likable, but also very challenging and a provocateur. I have a feeling this one could become an important part of my life.”

Eikenberry’s character sort of represents the conscience of the townspeople, who started out negative and fearful and eventually came around: “I play a really good teacher--maybe the best before Dennis came,” says Eikenberry, who spent three days in Winchester doing research. “At first, she fights him, but in the end she realizes that even a really good teacher sometimes has to relearn how to do it right.

“Parents, even those who are poor”--the average income in Winchester is $12,000--”and feel powerless, at least still feel they have power over their children,” she says. “Yet here was this ultimate outside threat, and it took the people a while to realize that he was truly helping their kids and the school.”

It was Tucker who brought the project to NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield and asked him not to think about potential ratings but rather, as he put it: “Let’s do this because we should.”

Littlefield liked the idea and, along with Ruth Slausen, senior vice president of motion pictures and miniseries, decided to make it a part of the network’s Education First Week, during which many programs deal with education in some respect. (Episodes of numerous series on ABC, CBS and Fox will also be stressing the importance of education this week.)

“This is very specific programming in that we were looking for a project to kick off our week,” Slausen says. “We wanted something that was atypical in setting but typical in the types of problems that are going on in schools across the country. Here’s this homogeneous New England town with so many of the same problems that face inner cities and the like.”

All those involved with the film hope it will have particular relevance to those parts of Los Angeles most affected by this year’s riots.

“If L.A. has schools like that in the inner city, they could begin to replace the gang structure,” Tucker says. “It’s all about finding things that interest the kids and making them feel involved.”

He points to the first scene in the film, based on an actual incident in which Littky asks a troubled student what his special interests are. When the disaffected youth says art, Littky immediately gives him a summer project: He pays him to replace the graffiti in the school cafeteria with a mural.

“Littky didn’t see it for two months, and when he did, he was astounded by its beauty,” Tucker says.

Small wonder those kids wanted to stay in school well past the usual hours. “One student told me he was about to be grounded because he spent too much time at school,” Petrie says with a laugh.

Most of the students who were around for the year covered in the film have moved on by now, and Littky is already preparing the new classes for what they’ll be seeing on television.

“Obviously, we have a whole new generation that doesn’t know the school was ever bad,” Littky says. “We’ll probably all watch it together and use it as a learning tool.”