With the highest student suspension rate in Toronto, Eastdale Collegiate Institute has a certain reputation. But to Alice Rankin, 18, the city's toughest high school is an oasis. Like 75 per cent of students there, Rankin had already tried another school before arriving at Eastdale this year to try and recover some academic territory lost, she says, to an anxiety disorder that made it too difficult to get out the door and on the subway to school every day. It will take at least two years for her to get the credits she needs to graduate, but at Eastdale she figures she has a shot. "This school's been great for me. It's so much calmer an environment and the teachers really help," she said. Part of it is the size - Rankin's last high school had more than 900; Eastdale has only 220 students and the classes are small. And while Eastdale's suspension rates were the highest in the city, the school, near Gerrard St. E. and Broadview Ave., is increasingly peaceful. Suspension rates are less than half of what they were a year ago, new Toronto District School Board data revealed this week. With a 56 per cent student suspension rate in 2004-05, Eastdale had the highest number in the city but was by no means an isolated case. More than 60 public elementary and high schools had enrolment-based suspension rates in the double digits last year. But across the board, and in fact the region, suspension and expulsion numbers are dropping. The law-and-order approach of the previous Progressive Conservative government, exemplified by the controversial Safe Schools Act, is giving way to alternative forms of discipline, new ways of keeping kids in school and off the street where they're liable to land into more serious trouble. Eastdale is a dramatic example of how the alternatives can work, says principal Tim Kearns, who clearly loves working with the kids who exasperate most educators. "Our guys - it's part of their charm - they live on the edge," he says. But for the sake of other students there are things he won't tolerate. In his four years at Eastdale, Kearns says he's only seen one toy gun and two knives and the owners were all sent home on limited expulsions. "These were pretty good kids who made really bad decisions. It's really hard to mitigate for a weapon at school," he said, later adding that the same is true for drugs. There's a no-hat, no-headgear policy and everyone's expected to dress like they're going to work - not on Bay Street, but maybe in a plant or bakery. Having a youth worker who is a gifted mediator has resolved a lot of student disputes, most of which originate outside the school walls, he says. But if there was a memo to cut the suspension rate, Kearns says he didn't get it. What he did get was the kind of funding and support from the province and the Toronto board that means when kids are going to blow up he can keep them in school rather than sending them out the door. He also got the workplace programs and courses that keep his students feeling successful even though in 2003, only 4 per cent of Eastdale students applied to college or university. This year, the school also got a behavioural resource room where students can go to do their schoolwork and talk through their problems when things aren't working out in class. It's less about the space - although that's important - than the staff. The room runs on an as-needed basis, usually when a teacher is stonewalled by a student. Before, a student would be sent to the office. Now they go and see gym teacher and behavioural expert Patti Greenglass. "Somebody's got to do the job and I do it well," she says. By her own admission, Greenglass is a pretty tough act. But, "as hard core as I am, I have a big heart," she says. "I want to show (students) life can be good. Every day I look forward to getting these kids ahead. "I teach them life skills and to love themselves," she says, adding that most have no idea what self-esteem means and they need to learn that in the real world you can't solve problems with your fist. They need to believe they can get out of Regent Park, she said. But Eastdale students get other kinds of life skills too. An old kitchen, abandoned by the board's food services department because it couldn't pay for itself, has been renovated and pressed into service. A new hospitality program means students are cooking and working the service line at lunch for credit. Ryan Bisci, 15, tries to talk about the hands-on experience and skills he's learning there but it's difficult to grasp his enthusiasm until he reminds Kearns about the pasta-with-three-sauces on a recent lunch menu. "Chicken tomato, sautéed shrimp and hot Italian sausage," he recites with pride. It's a project-driven approach to school that works for teachers, too. "When a kid's chopping carrots you get them talking," says Kearns. Marcus DuBoulay teaches a communications technology program that prepares students to learn printing trades. Yesterday, nine students were learning computer page make-up and some rudimentary design. Soon they'll be working on a brand new lithopress and computer-to-plate machine. "There's a tangible outcome," says DuBoulay. "The biggest discipline problem is kids seem distracted during the lesson." Sometimes, he says, he stands over students who are talking and asks them to stop and it's as if he's never spoken. Some teachers would evict them. DuBoulay issues a warning and if that doesn't work he simply separates them and puts them at the front of the class. "I don't stuff them in a corner with their backs to the class," he says.