Jerry Seinfeld, who’s gone from fear of commitment to quintessential family guy, yesterday said he’ll provide full college scholarships for five high-school kids every year.
The announcement of the Jerry Seinfeld Family and Scholarship Foundation came as the stand-up comedian and actor served as “Principal for a Day” at Fiorello La Guardia HS of Music and Arts. The West Side school is where scholarship participants will be selected.
“Amazing school. Amazing kids,” said a hatless Principal Seinfeld, who wore a blue sports jacket, striped tie, tan slacks and sneakers for his day at school.
Jeannette Hill Porter, spokeswoman for the group Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning, or PENCIL, which organized the principal-for-a-day event, said financial need, academics and “artistic need” will determine which kids get scholarships.
Seinfeld was among the celebs, business titans, journalists and athletes who made up the eclectic mix of “principals” at over 1,000 schools during the day.
Others included film stars Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin, TV reporter Diane Sawyer, New York Post editorial page editor Robert McManus, David Remnick of the New Yorker, Steve Florio of Conde Nast, shoe magnate Kenneth Cole, and former Knicks basketball forward Charles Smith.
Moore didn’t need any introduction to the kids at PS 315 in Brooklyn. The striking actress lectured on the importance of education.
“The best thing for anyone is to have a great education,” said Moore, who wore brown leather pants and a sea-green short-sleeved sweater for the day. “For me, reading was the key for everything.”
“It was fun meeting a movie star,” beamed Juan Gabriel, a 10-year-old fifth grader. “You don’t get to do that every day.”
Interim Schools Chancellor Harold Levy barnstormed schools throughout the city.
“Where are you going?,” Levy asked a group of students at a stairwell near the entrance to the HS for Health Professions near Stuyvesant Town, where Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue was the acting principal.
“I always question when people wander the halls.”
Levy praised the school, where more than 90 percent of the students graduate and a majority go on to college.