One of the rough-hewn jewels of NYC's beleaguered public school system, PS21 in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy district, has gone so far as to cancel outdoor recess periods indefinitely, due to gunfire being exchanged on nearby streets between local heavies. Now, while newly re-elected mayor Mike Bloomberg talks up a campaign against illegal guns, 700 Brooklyn kids spend their lunchtime in a cramped gymnasium.

"I hated to see the kids come out of school and say, 'Are they shooting today?'" said PS 21 principal Harold Anderson. We're not used to this . . . we're from Donegal, you know.