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Nearly two decades after leaving what was then Fletcher-Johnson Education Campus, Dr. George H. Rutherford maintains contact with several of his former students.

“I saw a couple of them a couple weeks ago,” Rutherford told The Informer as he spoke about a late January party at Restaurant 55 in Hyattsville, Maryland, that a group of Fletcher-Johnson alumni organized in his honor.

For Rutherford, such overtures from former students are the norm. And, as he notes, the feeling is mutual.

“They were the best. I don’t care what anyone says,” Rutherford said. “I talk to them constantly. They come over to see me. They call me all the time. Staying in touch, making sure I’m straight.”

Rutherford became principal of Fletcher-Johnson Middle School in 1978, just more than a year into its existence. By the time he assumed the helm, he had accumulated more than a decade of experience as a teacher and assistant principal. His 20-year tenure would be marked with numerous wins, including frequent visits and guest lectures by D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, and even a class trip to London, fully funded with the support of then-Ward 7 D.C. Councilmember H.R. Crawford.

“They were our young ambassadors,” Rutherford said about the dozen young people he accompanied across the pond in the early 1990s. “It was their intent on trying to get the students to see Queen Elizabeth, because she had just been … in our neighborhood to look at some houses that were being built.”

In its heyday, Fletcher-Johnson Middle School had a student population of more than 1,000. Located along Benning Road in the Marshall Heights community, it attracted young people from all corners of the Marshall Heights community, including those from Benning Terrace (Simple City) and the former public housing community of Eastgate Gardens.

Within five years of his tenure, Rutherford became a darling of the student body, but not without struggle. He said students cut his car tires, filled his gas tank with sugar, and even busted his car windows on numerous occasions.