PENCIL principals take to the schools today

Posted by Philissa at 6:58 AM

Many schools are in for a treat today -- it's PENCIL's 14th annual "Principal for a Day" event. The non-profit, whose expanded name is Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning, has since 1994 recruited business leaders and community leaders to spend part of the day in a public school. (By 1:30 p.m., participants will retire to Tavern on the Green for a celebratory luncheon.) Often, the Principal for a Day partnership becomes a long relationship that brings financial resources to schools. At Park East High School, for example, a former PENCIL principal for a day funded a new library, and at the New School for Arts and Sciences in the Bronx, the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA paid for science labs. PENCIL now has imitators in other cities and even abroad.