My inside sources tell me that Patrick Pope, Principal of Hardy middle school located at 1819 35th Street NW in Georgetown DC will be calling it quits this school year. If this turns out to be true, little wonder after Rhee dissed Pope when she announced on December 4 to Hardy parents that he (Pope) would end his 11 year career at Hardy and would be replaced by Dana Nerenberg, principal of Hyde-Addison elementary school in NW. Nerenberg with only 4 years experience will run both Hyde-Addison and Hardy middle schools next school year. Rhee revealed that Pope will lead a new state of the arts middle school scheduled to open next year in a centralized location. Well I guess Pope's planned departure, if true may be a sign that he is not happy about his re-assignment.
Certainly I am sure this announcement will not make either Hardy parents or students happy especially after the student body wrote more than 150 letters to Mayor Fenty as part of an English class assignment to protest Pope being replaced. Subsequently, Hardy students went to the DC City Council when their letters went unanswered by the Mayor in an act of civil disobedience and support of their desire to have their principal (Patrick Pope) remain at Hardy. Could it be that another revered DC principal will soon bite the dust ? What a way to
