A Daily Round Of Demanding Situations . . .

Glynis Jordan, who is learning how to be a principal at Fairmont Heights High School, has become adept at laying out the options and then letting students take responsibility for their decisions.

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"They tell me that three years ago, the school was different," Jordan said as she paced the halls during the first period. The building was in disrepair. Students were hanging out in the hallways.

These days, when classes are underway, the halls are largely clear. But Jordan spotted a boy wearing a Dallas Cowboys jacket and missing an essential fashion accessory: a hall pass.

"Devonte, come here," Jordan called out down the hall.

Devonte sheepishly complied. Jordan asked him what he was doing. Avoiding Ms. Bloomfield's English class, evidently. Jordan walked him to the classroom door. "No significant learning occurs in hallways," she said.

"I don't want to go in there," Devonte said. "Send me to the office. Come on, Ms. Jordan. Class is boring."

"These are your options," Jordan replied. "I can drop you off here. You can go to the cafeteria" -- a form of detention -- "or I can send you to in-school suspension."

Devonte chose the suspension. Jordan wrote him a pass.

"When I give you this pass, Devonte, please, don't get a wandering spirit on me," she said, and allowed him to go on his way.

"The reason I sent him was if I had put him back in the class, he would have been disruptive," Jordan said after he had left. One student gets suspended, a few dozen get a quiet environment in which to learn. It's a tough call, the kind that Jordan faces every day.

. . . Rewarding Moments

The innocent joy of learning emits a kind of glow from the faces of the young. If you looked carefully, you could see it reflected in the face of Chandra Brown, a principal in training at Seat Pleasant Elementary School as she made her rounds last week.

In one class, she made her way over to the "word wall," a list of words the students were learning. The last time Brown visited, there had been a few words; now there were a couple dozen.