Education’s her principal focus

TWO DECADES after Grecian Harrison began her teaching career, she has come full circle — at the helm of the school where she started.

Harrison, principal of Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, is a Brooklyn native who never forgot her roots.

A former social studies teacher, Harrison now works with teachers, parents, and the community to increase enrollment and restore the shine to the school long known as the pride and joy of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

For her innovative community outreach and attentive care for her student body, Harrison is nominated for a Hometown Heroes in Education award.

Harrison started teaching at the Boys and Girls in 1994 as her first job in the city schools. Back then, principal Frank Mickens patrolled the hallways with a bullhorn.

Mickens ran a tight ship, earning the nickname The Chancellor of Fulton Street. Graduation rates rose under his watch and enrollment swelled to more than 4,000 kids.

A year later, Harrison transferred out of Boys and Girls to George Wingate High School in East Flatbush to fill a vacancy there. But Boys and Girls stayed with her.

The legendary school, however, fell on hard times after Mickens’ departure in 2004.

By the time Harrison got there in 2016, the school’s graduation rate dropped and enrollment dried up. The school was up for closure or state takeover and Harrison’s predecessor principal had quit abruptly.

But Harrison has hit the ground running. With a new curriculum that encourages writing across disciplines, test scores and grad rates are up.

Harrison has worked with teachers to train them to help students with gaps in their education and other challenges they may face outside of class.

HOMETOWN HERO AWARD