has obtained a document that sheds new light on the rift last week between Education Minister Randy Horton and the Association of School Principals (ASP) ? a spat which has now apparently been repaired.

At the height of the dispute, in a letter to Minister Horton, ASP president Freddie Evans accused his education colleague of being untruthful to the media and maligning his professional reputation.

The angrily toned letter, dated January 25, chronicled Mr. Evans? recollection of a phone conversation with the Minister on January 24. obtained the letter from a source who requested anonymity.

Here is the main sticking point: when Minister Horton released the public schools? graduation rate of 48 percent, he told the press he had informed the ASP president of a board of enquiry into the public education system.

Mr. Evans adamantly refuted that claim in the letter: ?Although you responded to my concerns in empathetic tones, at no time did you tell me that you were launching a board of enquiry.?

He also said: ?There were senior members of the Association in my office as I spoke to you and they were privy to our conversation.?

Mr. Evans pointed out his end of the phone conversation was carried out on a speaker phone.

The Minister?s office probably did not receive the ASP president?s letter until January 26.

The day before that Mr. Horton had lashed out at principals after they issued a press release around the same time he announced graduation rates.

The press release said the ASP had filed a grievance against two Ministry of Education officials.

Minister Horton said he was ?amazed and dumbfounded? at the grievance because he told principals that he planned a board of enquiry into public schools.

So, from both sides, it seems notification of the board of enquiry was at the crux of the stand off.

But now indications from Mr. Evans reveal that the stand off is over. Last night he conceded that he and the Minister did not ?share the same recollection? of the conversation.

But he said: ?I would suggest that there was a misunderstanding but that?s not the issue. I?m not weighing in on any right or wrong. We have got past that. The issue is progressing the system. We have agreed to work together to do that.?

Mr. Evans, principal of Whitney Institute Middle School, said he had spoken to the Minister on January 26 and agreed a way forward.

?We are talking and we are going to move on to work through the problems that we see in the system.

?He (Mr. Horton) is a former principal so he?s aware of principals? concerns and how the principals? union works. I believe that just from Friday we are in a better state to articulate concerns.

?I?m quite certain that we will improve communication and, as we both have better understandings of each other?s positions, we?ll be better able to work through the problems.?

Mr. Evans said the decision to file a grievance against two civil servants ? Education permanent secretary Rosemary Tyrrell and acting chief education officer Joeann Smith ? was not unprecedented.

?This is not the first time at all,? he said. ?It?s not even been that long ago that we did it. This is more procedural than anything else.?

He would not reveal the details of the grievance, which outlines the association?s ?grave concerns? with the Ministry officials? unwillingness to engage in discussion about reform.

But he said Kenneth Dill, the head of the Civil Service, had acknowledged receipt of the complaint and a meeting between the parties was likely to be held soon.

Mr. Evans would not elaborate on what is contained in a set of ?belief statements? which principals have passed to the Minister. ?Ask the Minister if he wants to share what we submitted to him,? he said.

Mr. Horton did not respond to a request to see the statements or for comment.