I figured it would be only a matter of time before Salome Thomas-EL would graduate from being Philadelphia’s Principal to America’s Principal.

Anyone who’s seen the 45-year-old Thomas-EL - the veteran teacher and administrator who most recently spent three years as principal of Russell Byers

Charter School in Center City - knows all too well that his energy and passion can’t, and shouldn’t, be harnessed.

He needed a national platform, for sure. Like that of Joe Clark, the Paterson, N.J., principal of Lean on Me fame, Thomas-EL's life is the stuff of a movie:

Grows up as one of eight siblings raised by a single mom in North Philly projects. Becomes a nationally renowned educator and author of two books, I Choose to Stay: A

Black Teacher Refuses to Desert the Inner City and The Immortality of Influence. Offsets the lure of the streets by molding his students into national chess champions.

Disney had already optioned I Choose to Stay. All that was left was to cast homeboy Will Smith as Thomas-EL.

I mean, really. Is there any other choice?

But it hasn’t happened. Not yet, anyway.

Besides, Thomas-EL is still adding inspirational chapters to his life.

And now he’s catapulted himself to a new place - into the land of Oz.

No, not the Wizard. The Doctor.

Team Oz

If you’ve ever watched The Dr. Oz Show, this season’s breakout hit, at 9 a.m. weekdays on CBS3, chances are you’ve seen Thomas-El. As the newest member of “Core

Team Oz,” he has a recurring role as Dr. Oz’s healthy-lifestyle motivator.

“I’ve fallen in love with Principal El,” gushed Dr. Oz, introducing him for the fi rst time.

Maybe it’s because of their Philly connection. Mehmet Oz earned an M.D. and an MBA at Penn before making a name for himself as a New York heart surgeon.

Of course, that was before Oprah anointed him as her on-air health guru - and catapulted him to more fame and fortune.

Oz’s offer came just after Thomas-EL resigned from Byers.

He says leaving the successful charter was one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make.

But a three-hour round-trip commute from his Garnet Valley home near Cheyney University was wearing on him - not to mention unraveling his family.

“I always tell parents if they want to keep their kids on the right track, they must sit down and eat with them,” says Thomas-EL, a married father of two daughters, 5 and 9,

“and I wasn’t doing it.”

He says the realization hit him like a no-look pass when Macawi, his 9-year-old, demanded he raise the family’s basketball hoop to regulation height.

“She could play ball,” he says, “and I didn’t even know it!”

Still an educator

Though Thomas-EL’s not in the classroom anymore, he still gets to teach.

During his Oz debut, he counseled mother and daughter Lalita and Zyanae Paris on the benefi ts of exercise.

“Concentrate on the honor roll,” he told 13-year-old Zyanae, plugging his passion, “and not the hoagie roll.”

Since their appearance on the show, Lalita and Zyanae, who live in Northeast Philly, have stayed in contact with Thomas-EL, even working out in his home gym.

“His attitude is so positive,” says Lalita, 38, a day-care owner who’s dropped two dress sizes. “His whole persona is like, ‘You can. You have to. You must.’ “

Thomas-EL is smart enough to know what his Dr. Oz connection could mean. After all, just a sprinkling of the Oprah brand could set his future. Especially since the media

mogul announced plans to launch her own cable network.

But he’s always smart enough not to look too far ahead. So for now, he’s also working on fi nishing his Ph.D. in educational leadership and eventually continuing his mission

of helping underperforming schools get better.

And the best part?

“I’m having dinner with my kids,” he says, “every night.”

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She took the time to ask whether her students had eaten breakfast in the morning, or if they had enough warm clothes to wear in winter, or if there was someone there for them when they got home from school. My English teacher, Marsha Pincus, did all that and more for me when I was growing up in inner-city Philadelphia, one of eight kids raised by a single mother.

Mrs. Pincus told me to come by or to call her if I needed to. She cared about me. She gave a skinny kid like me some extra support. Sometimes all it takes to succeed is a little help.

I had always been something of a smart-mouth when I was young, but Mrs. Pincus helped me channel my enthusiasm into something constructive. When she was out on maternity leave with her first child, a substitute teacher came in for English class. On the first day, this teacher had trouble controlling the classroom. I watched kids cutting up in front of her and got really mad. This was my favorite class; I loved learning Shakespeare.

I knew the substitute would talk to Mrs. Pincus and that she’d be disappointed.

“We need to stop this!” I shouted.

Usually I was the one clowning around, but the kids seemed to listen. I ended up standing in front of the room discussing Julius Caesar. Later, the substitute told Mrs. Pincus about the skinny boy who taught the lesson. Mrs. Pincus said she knew right away what had happened.

“Without her even naming you, I knew it was you,” she told me.

Her eyes shone with pride.

Looking back, I think that was when the teacher in me started to emerge.

Mrs. Pincus retired this year after more than 30 years of teaching.

I spoke at her retirement party. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But because of this lady’s encouragement, I learned I belonged in the classroom, at the front of it.

-- Salome Thomas-EL’s latest book is The Immortality of Influence (Kensington).

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