But with the school board's decision on Tuesday to dismiss the entire faculty as part of a turnaround plan for the chronically underperforming school, some say they are losing one of the few constants in the state's poorest city, where 41 percent of children live in poverty and 63 percent of the high school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

"My teachers, they're there for me. They push me forward," said Ms. Gomes, a 17-year-old senior whose father is largely absent and whose mother works long hours at a factory. "My parents, they tried to, but they don't know how. I don't think they fully know me as a person to help me."

This former mill town of about 19,000, where unemployment is 13.8 percent, is now embroiled in a battle over school reform similar to those that have taken place in troubled districts in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, where officials have tried to fix failing schools by starting over with new staff members. Seventy-four teachers and 19 staff members in Central Falls will lose their jobs.

"The status quo needs to change," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview. "This is not the kind of stability I want. I'm looking for improvement."

Teachers acknowledge that change is needed — the school's graduation rate is 48 percent, and only 7 percent of students are proficient in mathematics by 11th grade — but they say they are struggling against difficult odds.

"We're carrying this immense burden here," said George McLaughlin, 60, a guidance counselor at the school. "We have a bag of bricks on our back that you don't get at places where it's taken for granted that everyone will succeed."

Central Falls has always been a city of immigrants, and boasts that it crowds "the whole world" into just over a square mile. Densely packed with triple-deckers, Central Falls calls itself "a city with a bright future," but the poverty rate has consistently been high and the budget low.

In 1991, Central Falls transferred operation of its schools to the state. The city maintains the buildings, but state and federal financing pays for the schools.

The system is under the direction of Rhode Island's education board, which deemed it one of the state's six worst-performing schools, instructing the superintendent, Frances Gallo, to choose one of four federally mandated models for school turnaround. Dr. Gallo said she chose the model called a "turnaround" plan after the teachers union rejected conditions in another state plan.

While teachers and students at the close-knit school said they considered one another family, Dr. Gallo said the current model was not working.

"If it's such a family, then how do you account for losing more than half your family each year?" Dr. Gallo said, referring to the dropout rate. "We are about to change the culture of Central Falls."

But many in the school think the culture of the school is one of its biggest assets.

"I leave here at 6, 7 at night, working with kids, coaching, getting lesson plans, doing interactive literacy. That's what people don't see," said Frank DelBonis, who teaches history to English as a Second Language students in a school where 70 percent of students are Hispanic.

Other teachers said progress was hampered by the high turnover at the school, where one in three students leaves each year.

"They're a transient community. It's more than test grades," said Kathy Casalino, a math teacher. "We give them a family. We show them how to live."

Theresa Agonia, 18, a freshman at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., is one of dozens of former students who are returning to the school to protest the move. She attended a rally before the board meeting Tuesday night.

"I feel like they're saying my education, my certificate, was worth nothing," said Ms. Agonia, who graduated in 2009. "I worked for my diploma, as everyone else did. To be just a statistic is hurtful."

Hope Evanoff, a French teacher, said she felt the decision was undermining her career.

"It makes you feel like all of your expertise, all that you know, any degree you might have, is worthless," Ms. Evanoff said. "I've never been fired from anything, and to be fired, it's devastating."

The faculty members have been offered counseling by the district, according to one of the fired teachers.

The Central Falls Teachers Union plans to fight the plan, saying it comes in the middle of a three-year contract.

Dr. Gallo said the district was "looking for partners" like Teach for America to provide teachers for the school, which has also been receiving "résumés from all over the nation" as news of the plan spread.

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican and a former math teacher, said he supported the board's decision, calling it "courageous," and he criticized the union as being an "obstacle" to change.

"We can no longer stand by as our schools underperform," Mr. Carcieri said in a statement.

But Ms. Agonia and others said they would keep fighting.

"These teachers mean a lot to me," she said. "They didn't turn their back on me, and I won't turn my back on them."