In Montco, a family with principals

As soon as Jill Clark started her job as principal of Sandy Run Middle School, a predecessor began bombarding her with all kinds of advice.

Keep lost-and-found items in the hallway so students see them; get a good desk organizer; hang diplomas on the wall so parents know their child is in the hands of an expert.

Annoying? Irritating? Actually, Clark cherished every tidbit.

The former principal was her dad, John Parker, who headed the Montgomery County school from 1972 to 1977.

"Things not taught in a principal's course," she said of her father's suggestions. "He's taking on the role of mentor."

While it's not unusual for members of the same family to pursue careers in education and even work in the same district, said James Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Admministrators, he was unaware of another instance in which members of an immediate family ended up running the same school.

Indeed, in an era when principals, superintendents, and other school administrators often bounce from district to district, sometimes across state lines, there is something rare and touching about the father-daughter bond at Sandy Run, in the Upper Dublin School District.

After all, Clark, 52, whose last job was assistant principal at Cheltenham High School, probably doesn't need much guidance. Upper Dublin Superintendent Deborah Wheeler called her a "consummate professional" who quickly gained the trust of her staff and raised morale.

The duo's history at the 1,000-student school dates to 1967, when Parker was hired as assistant principal. He was promoted five years later to the top job. He left in 1977 to run another Upper Dublin middle school, then worked in district administration until retiring in 1999.

Clark remembers coming to the school as a child when her dad, now 79, had late-night meetings, and her mother, a teacher, also was busy with work.

"I had lots of fond memories of this place," she said in her office, the same one her father occupied more than 35 years ago.

So does Parker. Visiting the school recently for the first time since he retired - he wasn't checking up on his daughter, really - he strolled through the memory-packed hallways, and fondly recalled the many teachers and students whose lives intersected with his own.

"These are good, solid people," he said of the school community. "She's going to love Dublin and they're going to love her."

The first face he saw in the main office, secretary Marcia Wolf, said she attended Sandy Run, but not when Parker was principal. He asked her maiden name anyway.

"Marcia Petrosky," she said.

"I remember Ruth Petrosky," Parker replied, noting that as principal, he knew the names of each of his 1,000 students.

When Clark walked into the office, Wolf turned to Parker and said kiddingly, "Mr. Parker, I'd like to introduce you to my principal, Jill Clark."

Parker asked about Delores Kearns, his former secretary, who still works in the district but in another building.

"She was nothing but trouble," he joked.

On the wall was a framed newspaper article and picture of Parker playing basketball with students and sporting a '70s-vintage wide tie, plaid shirt, and big hair. A former basketball star at what is now Millersville University and player for a minor league team, Parker was also a college and NBA referee.

He came to Upper Dublin during the boom years, when schools were sprouting from empty fields and the district was hiring young teachers to staff them. He started as a shop teacher and retired after 42 years as director of facilities and planning.

Clark, who grew up in Gwynedd, graduated from Wissahickon High School and started her teaching career at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. She saw the announcement about the Sandy Run job in May and submitted an application. She waited months to hear back.

Clark, who is married and has two children, didn't tell her parents about her plan until she was called back a second time. Needless to say, they were thrilled. The job is a big change from Cheltenham, where, she said, she dealt with a lot of discipline issues, even though she was sad to leave because her son started ninth grade there this year.

"It's refreshing," she said of Sandy Run. "The kids are happy, they're spirited. At this stage in my life, I needed some levity. I needed to laugh every day."

Since starting Nov. 10, people have come up to her and said they knew her dad. On the day he visited, he spent time in the classroom of seventh-grade social studies teacher Jill Snyder, granddaughter of a referee acquaintance. He had helped her get hired.

Standing in front of her class, he looked at the kids and said, "They look a little old for seventh graders."

Then Clark took him to the cafeteria, where she introduced him to her assistant principal and director of security before heading back to her office.

As he sat in an adjoining conference room, he noted that the door connecting the two was his idea. Then he asked how the red vinyl wallpaper that he had had installed in the hallway was holding up. It looked brand-new.

"That was smart, Dad," said Clark. "It holds its color and doesn't fade."