Wow. Got there at 8:15. Things started at 8:40 (major, probably inappropriate pet peeve — if things are supposed to start at a certain time, particularly in the golden time of a weekend, then start on time).

But all in all, a day of well-constructed activities and thoughtful questions. They asked us not to publicly talk about it, which is fair, so I won’t write much more.

Most striking thing: I would have been thrilled to have had ANY of these folks as a vp or a principal when I was West. There’s a lot of talk about the lack of administrators in training but I thought everyone there would make a great principal. I also admire and respect the fact that they did not do a national search but instead sought folks who were committed to Philadelphia’s schools.

I did get to run to the awesome Free Library Bookstore, The Next Page, and get a bunch of books:

1. The Modern Library Editions of The Odyssey and The Iliad, for $5 each, with dust jackets in amazing shape. This was a great find as I slowly spiral towards book collecting.

2. I like Garry Wills. Here I was at an interview about leadership and here was his book on leadership. Hardback, great shape.
Garry Wills, Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders (Simon & Schuster, 1994).

3. This looked good. Tom Piazza, Devil Sent the Rain: Music and Writing in Desperate America, Original (Harper Perennial, 2011).

4. I had just finished reading “Cage Busting” and while I read this book awhile ago — it’s one of the many “let’s look at school reform over an extended period of time and try and make some sense of it” books — I Wouldn’t buy it new but liked it at $5.
Frederick M. Hess, Spinning Wheels: The Politics of Urban School Reform (Brookings Institution Press, 1998).

5. I like Adam Gopnik, too, and liked what I heard about this book.
Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon, (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2001).

Then I got to watch my son get a game-winning, walk-off hit. Sweet.