The back-to-school makeover usually involves some minor tweaking--crisper jeans, a snazzier 'do or even just a new pencil case. But come next fall, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) may face a reconstruction considerably more drastic.

Pending a likely "yes" vote by the Cambridge School Committee, the radical redesign of Cambridge's only public high school will begin next fall.

The plan is meant to combat the discrepancies between CRLS's "houses"--that is, the five programs, based on different learning styles, which students are divided among.

The idea is to stop students from slipping through the cracks in the 1,900-plus student body.

By making teachers pay closer attention to their students, and by limiting students' course choices to within their school, the proposal hopes to make CRLS students successful across the board.

But the new "schools" proposal is flawed, students say, completely overhauling a system that could instead simply be tinkered with. If the proposal is adopted, students will miss their freedom to choose houses and classes, as well as the house reputations that have shaped student identity.

CRLS's five current "houses" are House A, Pilot, Academy, Leadership and Fundamental. Every student and teacher is affiliated with a house, and each house uses a trademark teaching style. (Please see accompanying sidebar.)

Current students selected their houses through a process of "controlled choice" that balances students' preferences and the houses' geographic and racial demographics.