NEW YORK—Sarah Jessica Parker and Caroline Kennedy were brandishing their credit cards at Barnes & Noble in TriBeCa on Wednesday to help kick off the ‘Shop for Public Schools’ week. Now in its fifth year, the annual retail promotion raises critical funding to revive and rehabilitate the public school libraries that serve NYC’s 1.1 million students.
This year’s ‘Shop for Public Schools’ is bigger than ever, with over 200 retail stores throughout the city involved. The event runs from October 1st to October 8th, with each participating store donating portions of profits from sales during the week to the Fund for Public Schools initiative.
Sarah Jessica Parker picked up a few books while shopping, with some sound advice from Chancellor Klein. First, the big coffee table book, ‘Disappearing World: 101 of the Earth’s Most Extraordinary and Endangered Places’ by Alonzo Addison. Next was ‘Ballistics,’ a book of poetry by Billy Collins, and another book, ‘Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America,’ by Paul Tough, looks like some serious reading for the weekend for Ms. Parker.
Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein established this public-private partnership as a critical lever for driving public education reform, and The Fund is the primary vehicle for advancing this effort in New York City, the nations largest school system.
Bloomberg sees this as a national model for public-private partnerships to serve public education needs. The Fund has secured unprecedented investment from the private sector, foundations, and individuals, raising more than $230 million for the NYC school system since 2003.
For a complete list of all the retailers involved, or info on this week’s related special events, go to www.shopforps.org
