New Rochelle School Officials Serve at Pancake Breakfast

Seeing your principal wearing an apron and gloves to hand out pancakes is always a sight to see, and New Rochelle residents got to experience that at the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence’s annual Pancake Breakfast Saturday.

The breakfast does not serve as fundraiser for the fund, but rather as a way to say thank you to the community, taking place before the annual Thanksgiving Parade.

“It’s more of a friends-giving,” says Susan Weisman, executive director of the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence.

School administrators, principals and Board of Education members of the New Rochelle School District got together to dish out pancakes to students, their families and to New Rochelle residents.

“The breakfast is a great way to get the community together before the parade,” said Weisman.

“It’s fun for the whole family,” she said. “Plus, who doesn’t love to eat?”

With the help of Whitsons food service and Monroe College culinary students, school officials were able to cook up hundreds of pancakes.

Joanna Genovese, principal of the Barnard Early Childhood Center, loved slinging out pancakes at the event.

“It’s a great way to show community spirit,” she said.

Genovese also loved to see her fellow school officials volunteer at the event.

“All of the administrators volunteer, and it’s nice to see everyone out here,” she said.

The New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence aims to preserve the excellence in education in New Rochelle schools by providing programs that would not exist due to the district’s budget, including benefit concerts performed by New Rochelle High School students, SAT prep courses, “Poetry Out Loud” and theater arts.

“They support our schools and we love to give back when we can,” Genovese said.

Jackie and Bill Morris of New Rochelle attended the event with their three children who are involved with the “Poetry Out Loud” and “Chess in Schools” programs.

“We think that they do a wonderful thing for the schools,” said Jackie Morris.

It was the family’s third time at the breakfast, plus their kids were marching in the parade.

“It’s really fun eating pancakes before the parade,” she said. “But seeing the superintendents serving them? It’s a bonus.”

The $5 entry fee went to covering the costs of the breakfast.