Calling All Snake Charmers, Psychos and 6-Foot-8 Leaders.

The Holy Grail

At the bottom of a long list of administrative job vacancies around the country, the New York State Council of School Superintendents, in a recent newsletter, sneaked in this appealing opportunity:

Snake Charmer: Small isle west of Scotland. $Pot of gold. Qualifications: sainthood.

A Heady Position

When Principal Larry Fryer distributed salary verification forms to his staff at Lone Peak Elementary School in Sandy, Utah., Lori Robinson, a part-time guidance counselor, noticed the printout listed her position in truncated form as "part psycho."

She wondered if she moved to fulltime status if that would make her a "full psycho."

An Administrator in Center Court

Roger Sidoti had big shoes to fill when he became principal last fall at Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio. But his size 14 sneakers and 6-foot-8, 243-lb. frame have filled the bill quite nicely.

Sidoti, a former basketball center at the University of Akron, has become a "sixth man" for the Roosevelt Rough Riders boys basketball team. He practiced with the team last fall when it prepared to face opponents with much taller players.

He also shows up for open gym in his sweats when he has a chance. He made his first memorable appearance before the school year even started.

"I could just see the kids rolling their eyes, what's this old guy doing here," Sidoti, 49, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Then there was this whispering going around, 'Oh my God, that's the principal.'"

A Student Who Didn't Forget

Robert Catando, the superintendent of the Alloway, N.J., Township Schools, was starting to get a tad suspicious when he spotted his two sons and a video cameraman show up in the audience at a routine school board meeting.

His mild surprise turned to shock when one of his high school history students from 31 years earlier appeared on the scene, bearing a rather propitious gift. The former student, Richard Williams, now president of education management services at ServiceMaster in Downers Grove, Ill., said he'd never forgotten the valuable lessons learned in class and out from Catando.

"This was a kid I liked, and I liked his family, too," Catando recalled. So much so, the superintendent says, that he hired the young Williams to handle odd jobs around his house and found him a position as a junior counselor at a summer camp Catando helped to direct.

At the school board session, Williams handed over 4,200 shares of ServiceMaster stock from his own portfolio in the superintendent's name, valued at nearly $100,000. Catando has since created a scholarship fund, which will provide a pair of four-year college scholarships annually to needy students from Alloway, a small rural community in southern New Jersey.

4th-Grade Vocabulary

The Setting: Mike Conver's office as superintendent of the Richland School District in Crest Hill, Ill.

The Players: Conver and a 4th-grade boy in his Cub Scout uniform.

The Action: The youth, fulfilling a Scout badge, is interviewing the superintendent about where the money comes from that's used to run the schools.

After a half-hour of trying to explain federal, state and local revenue sources, Conver can see the boy's eyes glazing over. As he ushers the Cub Scout from his office, he introduces the boy to an office assistant. "Mrs. Buzenski helps me keep all of this straight. She is the bookkeeper." That totally baffled the youngster, who asked: "Then what does the librarian do?"

A Diploma 36 Years Late

Hire a high school dropout as a superintendent?

The Independence, Mo., school board solved that potential embarrassment recently when it awarded an honorary diploma from William Chrisman High School to its newly appointed superintendent, David Rock.

Though he is pictured in the 1963 Chrisman yearbook as a graduating senior, Rock never actually completed his academic requirements there or anywhere else because his family moved to Michigan and then back to Independence during his senior year. He went on to successfully complete college-entrance exams, though he's always claimed Chrisman as his alma mater.

The principal who denied Rock his diploma showed up at a board meeting to make the presentation. "I told him it was nice that it took him from 1963 until now to make the decision," said Rock, who assumed the superintendency in Independence in July.

A Home Inside the District

Several elementary schools in the Riverview Gardens School District in St. Louis recently added computer labs and when the terminals are switched on, a baseball card-size image of Superintendent Chris Wright pops on the screen.

Wright was walking past a kindergarten classroom a few weeks after the labs opened when she overheard a zealous youngster call out: "There goes the lady who lives in our computers!"