Principal
For a Day:
Follow-Up & Feedback with Jane Pauley
By Sybil
Maimin
They
were there in force to share their stories and get feed-back about
the extraordinary experiences they had had a few days previously
as “Principal for a Day” (PFAD) in a New York City public school.
They included celebrities, CEOs, elected officials, a fireman,
and “just plain folk.” Education Update’s Editor in Chief
and publisher, Pola Rosen, was a PFAD in the Bronx. Some of the
city’s most powerful figures came to the Great Hall at Cooper
Union to salute the volunteers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and an entourage of top aides, the president and members of the
City Council, Chancellor Harold Levy and members of the Board
of Education, and Randi Weingarten, president of the Teachers
Union.
Moderators Belzberg and TV news anchor Jane Pauley asked for reactions
to the day. A parent volunteering in the school his son attends
(which the parent also attended as a child) was surprised and
pleased by changes, especially the policy of partnering a child
with the same teacher for six years. A man in a wheelchair reported
a “heartwarming day that he will always remember” at a school
for the disabled. He spoke to the students about “possibilities”
and reminded them that “success comes not from your arms or legs,
but from your head and heart.” Edith Everett, former CUNY trustee
and an education activist, was both “exhilarated and depressed”
by the Bushwick, Brooklyn school she visited. The floor that housed
12 kindergartens did not have a toilet; the tots had to use one
in the basement. Twenty-eight 220 volt air conditioners were not
useable because the school is wired for 110 volts. She was rewarded
by meeting a hard-working principal, fine teachers, and “third
graders equal to those you would find in a good private school.”
A volunteer who found only fifty books in the school library reported
she wrote to 100 friends asking them to donate funds for more
books. Another PFAD discovered that PS 161 in Harlem was in terrible
shape three years ago but has made dramatic improvements after
being put in the Chancellor’s District which entitles it to extra
funding.
Mayor Bloomberg stated that, “education is the number one focus
of my administration,” also pointed out that “choices have to
be made and a balance must be found” among the many necessary
public services. “All agree that our children must get a better
education,” he said. “We will find a way.” One way is explored
by Principal for a Day. As expressed by PENCIL’s Belzberg, “Our
schools will thrive when our citizens work with schools collectively.”#
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
(212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
the publisher. © 2001.
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