Pasadena Unified’s ‘Principal for a Day’ Changing Perceptions

At least 35 prominent community, public, civic, and corporate leaders went back to school on Thursday and were quickly sent to the principal’s office and teamed up with the principals of the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) for the seventh annual “Principal for a Day” Program. Its focus was to match a local business executive with a school principal for one day to foster a new spirit of civic involvement and commitment to Pasadena public schools.

Patrick Conyers, Executive Director of Pasadena Educational Foundation, commented, “We have been running this [program] for seven years now to connect community, public, civic, corporate leaders with our schools and to give them hands on experience of what is happening inside the school. We find this is the best way for the community to better understand what is happening, particularly the triumphs and the challenges and hopefully build some relationship with the schools that lasts.”

Under the program, participants spent half a day working on campus with a PUSD school principal, giving them a rare and valuable inside view of the day-to-day realities that come with running a public school.

PUSD Superintendent Jon R. Gundry said, “I commend all of the participants for working together towards the goal of a world-class public school system for the future of Pasadena.”

According to Conyers the program is also aimed at removing the perceived disconnect between education and business. He commented on the civic leaders who had been chosen as principals for a day, “There are some people that have had a great history with the school that have acted as principal for the day and other people that we are trying to introduce to the program.  This is probably their first time and we want to give a good first impression. We, in the Pasadena Educational Foundation feel that we have to give people an accurate impression of what is happening inside the schools. It has been great from the beginning and some relationships have been built.”

Conyers added that one of the business leader who acted as a principal of the day saw the need to put a computer lab in the school where he visited. So now, that school has a computer lab.

“Last year, Merrill Lynch’s principal for the day was sent to McKinley school. Now the office of Merrill Lynch in Pasadena is collecting money within its office to raise funds to buy books for McKinley’s library,” Conyers said.

One of the participants in this year’s Principal for a Day, businesswoman Christine Lenches-Hinkel described her experience as “pleasantly surprising.” She was particularly impressed with the “level of leadership the principal had in the engagement with her staff.” “We toured several of the classrooms and I was expecting something completely different. I was not expecting a controlled classroom scenario. I have to say that my bad perception has gone away.”

Lenches-Hinkel said she joined the program when some schools in Pasadena initiated an organic recovery program. “We have a stake in the kids. They are our future leaders. They need to know about the environment and the decisions that are being made at every level that affects our community, from the government to the school levels. So why not teach them about environmental education and give them practical everyday activities that allows them to make a difference?”

She also expressed surprise over the recent rise in Hamilton’s Academic Performance Index (API) score. Hamilton Elementary scored 901 this year’ “I’m taking a second look at Hamilton for my kids. It was very eye opening and it was very well scheduled and a much better tour that I had when I visited as a parent.”

Congresswoman Judy Chu, who participated in the “Principal for a Day” at Hamilton Elementary, expressed her congratulations to Hamilton for “raising their test scores” this year.

But she admitted that there are still some schools that ‘definitely need some help.” “And I do believe in a school improvement program that encourages collaboration that tries to bring together community resources and has everybody working together to make for a better school. I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and that it takes the collaboration of parents, community, and school personnel to make things work,” the lawmaker commented.

Pressed to comment on the perceived disconnect of resources between private and public schools, Chu said she believes there is a need to make sure that the resources are there for Pasadena public schools. “If we really want a better society, we have to ensure that our young people have a chance and skills to be successful in the future.”