Since fall 2003, the Boston Plan has organized an annual Principal For A Day event for the city's corporate and civic leaders with one goal: to give them a chance to see how Boston's classrooms have changed and what still needs to be done. "PFADs" greet buses and supervise breakfast, talk with students about their learning, sit in on professional development "coaching" sessions with teachers, and try to keep up with principals-headmasters as they go about their many tasks. Following their morning in a school, PFADs meet for lunch  at Bank of America with the mayor, superintendent, and chair of the school committee to share what they have learned and raise questions.

With support from Bank of America, PFAD is organized by the Boston Plan in collaboration with the Boston Public Schools, which is responsible for follow up, helping interested host schools and PFADs develop more formal partnerships.

To date, more than 285 leaders have been PFAD in Boston at least once. Principal For A Day is the flagship program (and trademark) of PENCIL Inc.

Click here for a list of all corporate and civic leaders who have been Principal For A Day in Boston.

Information: Dottie Engler: 617-227-8055 x 309 or dengler@bpe.org.

Bank of America's Anne Finucane at the Lyon K-8 School

Peter Lynch with students at Noonan Business Academy

Paul LaCamera in a science class at Umana-Barnes Middle School