Tough as Nails, but Always Ready for a Bearhug

Jenny Anderson

It is 8:30 a.m. at De La Salle Academy, a private school in Manhattan for academically talented poor children, and classical music is humming through a boom box that harks back to the 1980s.

Children are streaming up four flights of stairs and surrounding the school's founder and principal, Brother Brian Carty, like moths fluttering around a light. They want to tell him something. They want one of his bearhugs. They want to be in his orbit for a few minutes.

If the students' attraction to Brother Carty suggests that he is a teddy bear of an administrator, consider a few of his rules. Gossip is an expellable offense. Makeup -- even lip gloss -- is prohibited. Dating is outlawed.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 5, 2010 1:32 AM
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