–ardi Gibbons, an innovative elementary school principal in New Jersey, died Wednesday of pneumonia at the age of 82, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Gibbons, who became the third black principal in Pennsauken when she took charge of George B.
Fine and C.A.Baldwin Elementary Schools in 1987, was called a "wonderful principal" and "mentor of many great educators" by colleagues.
"She led with love, grace, intelligence, compassion, and dignity," said the superintendent of Pennsauken Public Schools.
"The kids are so excited about being in their school at night and waking up and brushing their teeth in the school bathroom the next morning.
It creates an attachment for the school."
Gibbons organized annual Friday night sleepovers at her schools, during which students read, sang, danced, and watched movies until the lights went out.
"I think it makes them feel that the school belongs to them and has a vital importance in their lives, not just a place they go Monday to Friday from 8:50 to 3:25," she told the Inquirer in a 1997 story about a sleepover at Fine.
"When kids feel that, they want to come to school, and they want to learn."
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