Spotted in DC

Apparently D.C. is chock full of celeb sightings (see Emily's post about Mayor Fenty and Michelle Rhee!) Yesterday, I headed out to meet a friend for lunch and the second I stepped out of our building, it was chaos. Seriously, there were police cars everywhere and our entire street (Connecticut Ave.) was cordoned off so cars coudn't drive down it. The police weren't even allowing pedestrians to cross the street and my first thought was that there was some bomb scare (not rare in DC) at a building near us. I was about to give up and take a side street since I couldn't cross Connecticut when lo and behold, a huge motorcade of 15 police cars/motorcycles/SUVs/limos came came cruising up the Ave. from the White House. The limos were decked out in Israeli and U.S. flags and sure enough, it was Obama and Netanyahu on their way to the Mayflower Hotel (which happens to be half a block from our building) where the Mid-East peace talks are being held.

Anyway, that was enough excitement for one day! At CEP, I've been focusing on our National Forum on Character Education, which will be held in San Francisco, Oct. 28-30th. This event brings together close to 1,000 educators and administrators from around the U.S. (and several foreign countries) to dicuss the latest character education research and practices. We also honor our National Schools of Character (schools that have exhibited excellent character education practices) at the Forum. Organizing that many people sure can get complicated and we're constantly assisting attendees with registration questions. Thankfully, everyone on staff really helps out, so I know everything will get done eventually!