In dealing with racial tension and conflict, the principal is not limited to a wing and a prayer and benign neglect. The roots of conflict can be identified. Conflict can be planned for and utilized constructively. For 10 years, in approximately 2,000 instances, conciliators and mediators of the Community Relations Service have stood side-by-side with school administrators as they struggled to restore an atmosphere conducive to learning in a school that had been fractured by racial confrontation. Each case requires its own tailoring. But there is a body of techniques and methods which can be adapted and applied as needed. One approach is early diagnosis. It's strange that in the field of education, where so much of practice is the result of research and planning, problems of racial conflict are often left to chance. Once the research has been done, the principal can plan to overcome some, if not all, of the problems perceived. The search for solutions should not be limited to the boundaries of customary practice and traditional approaches. Business as usual is not likely to provide the answer. A poorly run school is a pushover for conflict. A well run school has the problem half licked. Planning and preparing to defuse or to deal with racial conflict might bring you 25 percent closer to being home free. (Author/JM)