Lorraine Skeen served as principal of Patrick Henry School (P.S. 171 Manhattan) from 1977 to 1998. She began teaching in 1964 at Luis Munoz Rivera School (P.S. 83 Manhattan) where she completed her administrative internship under the direction of Joseph Pacheco, known as a brilliant tactician and leader of political and educational groups.
Born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Lorraine received her early education in schools in high-poverty neighborhoods. She graduated from Hunter College High School and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s in Sociology from Queens College. She pursued additional studies in school administration at Fordham University.
Lorraine’s approach to school leadership was interdisciplinary, systematic, and guided by the tools and methods of the social sciences. During her tenure at P.S. 171, the school was recognized as a unique model of student achievement where poverty was never an excuse for deprivation and failure. The school model that she built more closely resembles schools in high-achieving countries such as Singapore and Finland than the typical American school. Her different approach and dissenting voice attracted both admiration and disapproval from the educational community.
After retiring in 1998, she worked for brief periods as an education consultant and as a local instructional superintendent in the Bronx.
Catherine Skeen (Editor/Proofreader) grew up in New York City listening to her stepmother, Lorraine Skeen, discuss the challenges faced by NYC schools. She has assisted in a second-grade classroom in a Chicago public school and has taught English and Humanities at the college level. Today she works as a freelance editorial consultant. Her three children attend public school in Pennsylvania.
