100+ Corporate and Civic Leaders to be Principal for a Day in City's Public Schools on November 14

BOSTON, November 13, 2007 - The Boston Plan for Excellence and the Boston Public Schools announced today that almost 125 CEOs, university presidents, nonprofit directors, and elected officials would be Principal For A Day on November 14 in the fifth annual jointly sponsored event. This year will bring to 286 the number of corporate and civic leaders who have been a "PFAD" in a Boston public school since the kickoff of Principal For A Day in Boston in October 2003. Among this year's PFADs are 58 new participants from all sectors.

Principal For A Day is organized by the Boston Plan for Excellence and the Boston Public Schools, with support from Bank of America. Participants will spend the morning in a school shadowing the principal, helping resolve questions that come up, observing classroom instruction, and sitting in on study groups led by literacy or math "coaches." Later, the executives will meet to share experiences and offer their observations in a roundtable with Dr. Carol Johnson, Superintendent of Schools, and Dr. Elizabeth Reilinger, Boston School Committee chair. The luncheon will be hosted by Robert Gallery, Massachusetts President for Bank of America, and Chad Gifford, chairman emeritus of Bank of America. Both are on the Boston Plan for Excellence board of trustees, which Mr. Gifford chairs.

"Public education is one of the most important services the city provides its citizens," said Gallery, "and it is a service we need to understand, get involved with, and support. Principal For A Day offers an opportunity for the city's corporate and civic leaders to see for themselves what Boston's schools have accomplished in recent years, and to hear from school staff and students what needs to be done yet. This is my first year as a 'PFAD,' and I'm really looking forward to it."

Among those participating this year are the following:

• More than 40 PFADs are from corporate, financial, or consulting firms including Bank of America, Boston Celtics, Boston Duck Tours, City Lights Electric, Fidelity Management & Research, IBM, John Hancock Financial, Legal Sea Foods, Meredith & Grew, Suffolk Construction, Westin Boston Waterfront
• 30 PFADs lead nonprofits, foundations, or community-based organizations, including the Boston Foundation, Citizen Schools Boston, Greater Boston Food Bank, Home for Little Wanderers, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Museum of African American History, Sociedad Latina, and W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation
• 17 are elected officials or public sector leaders, including members of the Boston delegation and commissioners from several state agencies
• Seven are administrators from Boston-area colleges and universities, including Harvard, UMass Boston, Wentworth, and Wheelock
• Seven come from Boston-area hospitals or health care insurers, including Beth Israel Deaconess, Brigham & Women's, Dana Farber, and Harvard Pilgrim
• 10 are staff from major law firms including Bingham McCutchen, Brown Rudnick, Choate Hall & Stewart, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Foley Hoag, Hale & Dorr, and Nutter McClennen & Fish
• Executives from five media outlets are participating, including Univision, WBUR, and WHDH

About the Boston Plan for Excellence in the Public Schools
Established by the corporate and foundation communities in 1984, the Boston Plan for Excellence is the primary partner of the Boston Public Schools in improving instruction, with a focus on school-based professional development. Led by a volunteer board of trustees, the Boston Plan also manages Boston Teacher Residency, an independent teacher preparation and certification program, and directs Fund For Teachers/Boston, which awards grants for summer sabbaticals to Boston's public school teachers.

Principal For A Day is a registered trademark of PENCIL Inc.