Two years after Explore Charter School opened its doors in a converted church in downtown Brooklyn, it lost 65 percent of its students when a leasing problem forced a relocation to Flatbush. The move, disruptive at the time, has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, said the founding director, Morton Ballen, because Explore "is now a neighborhood school ... and there's a high need in this neighborhood for a good school." Fifty percent of students come from the local school district, and all of the students live in Brooklyn. The school, which opened in 2002 with kindergarten through 3rd grade, has been adding a grade each year and will go through 8th grade beginning in the fall of 2007.