By Kate McNeil

"He should be here any minute," said Fran Cicia, PS 24 librarian.

The grandmotherly figure worked feverishly to get her ducks in order before the important guest's arrival. "Have your questions ready."

The group of third-, fourth- and fifthgraders crumpled their papers in anticipation. At precisely 10 a.m., Phillip Scharper's tall figure filled the doorway. But there was someone unfamiliar behind the school's new principal.

On Ms. Cicia's cue, the group yelled to the stranger: "Good morning Principal Cassino!"

Tony Cassino, lawyer and chairman of Community Board 8, gave Mr. Scharper a day off during the 13th annual "Principal for a Day" event.

Every year, the nonprofit group PENCIL (Public Education needs Civic Involvement in Learning) creates schoolbased partnerships between business leaders and city public schools and jumpstarts the partnerships with the "Principal for a Day" event.

Before lunch hour at PS 24, Mr. Cassino, the fresh-faced principal, popped in the school library to be interviewed by the student government. Two representatives from each class (grades three and up) sat in on the interrogation.

A third-grade boy set the tense tone with the first question: "What is your favorite subject in school?"

"History," Mr. Cassino answered without hesitation. "Do you guys like history?"

"Nooooo," the charges whined.

"How many years have you been a lawyer?" another student asks their leader for the day.

"Seventeen years," Mr. Cassino answered.

"Wowww," the group cried, the same reaction they had when Mr. Cassino told them he went to elementary school near Yankee Stadium.

The four-footers were tough on their new chief. Rory Muldoon threw Mr. Cassino a hardball by asking, "How do you make money if you don't get paid?"

The community advocate then explained to his audience the ins and outs of pro bono legal work.

Other answers to questions revealed that Mr. Cassino likes to watch the Yankees in his free time, would be a principal at John F. Kennedy High School but can "barely manage" his own two children, "let alone hundreds."