So as I was going into the conference room at the central office yesterday, I was stoppd by the head of schools who said “We have a friend in common…I spoke with PR last night.”  My jaw dropped – it had been a few years since PR and I last saw each other.  I was still a police officer and he was a high school principal in Virginia about to take a few years off to finish his doctoral studies.  Well, it turns out he never left education, but moved to take over a high school in DC plagued with violence.  At one point last year after March 1st, there was a fire in the building set by the students each day until the end of the year – it had become tradition.  Well, not under his watch!  I enjoyed listening to his perspective as a principal during this past summer’s debacle in DCPS with the merger and closing of school facilities, including his, and hearing what really went on at the building level.  Interesting stuff!  It is strange to hear that, even with a regime change, some things have remained the same at DCPS, particularly at the central office level.

PR and I used to grab drinks regularly since we first met in grad school.  PR is a bit older than I and we have similar backgrounds involving the seminary, law enforcement, and school administration.  We even share the same professional goals of taking on a superintendency somewhere, preferably an urban district.  It was funny how we led parallel lives with many things, eerily, in common.  At no fault of his, we sort of drifted away and the last time we got together was two summers ago at The Tabard Inn for drinks.

Well, PR and I spoke last night for a good hour after I texted him that I had spoken with JB, the head of schools.  PR knows both JB and her brother, another school administrator who is out working in a high school in San Francisco.  PR and I had a chance to catch up and to hear some of this stories about the high school he is running now in DC – and some of those challenges he is facing.  He sounds like a good fit for that school.

So, a long lost friend is found…well, not really lost as misplaced…but I took that step to reconnect and I am glad I did!  We have planned to resume our weekly happy hour get-together beginning this Tuesday and I can’t wait!