From the corner, Kurt Jones spots two boys sizing each other up nearby. Jones, principal of the low-performing Libby Elementary, is monitoring the dismissal of students from summer school, and since it’s a hot day, these two boys have already shed their T-shirts. The lean boys are wearing unbelted jean shorts, sagging below their underwear—white briefs and plaid boxers. Just beyond them, two men sit on the concrete stoop of an apartment building, seemingly oblivious to the mean, mugging youngsters in the middle of the street. Two women, maybe in their 20s or early 30s, walk by, briefly glancing at the boys then moving on.
Jones, however, tucks a red motorcycle helmet under his arm and then comes charging down the street. “Do not even think about swinging,” he hollers in a voice that is a curious mix of street and diva...