Lisa Belzberg said she doesn’t want to sound “Pollyanna-ish” when she talks about the state of public education in New York City. But she can’t help being enthusiastic: “I just want to tell stories of good things going on in public schools,” she said. “No one knows this stuff.”

Over the course of an hour-long lunch last week near her Upper West Side home, Ms. Belzberg rarely stopped smiling and did not break eye contact. The founder and executive chairwoman of Pencil (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning) is a true alpha female: beautiful, aggressively charming, and unwaveringly confident in her cause. It’s not hard to see how she marshals approximately 1,200 New York elites – at least one for every public school in the city – into showing up each year for Pencil’s signature program, “Principal for a Day.”

Today, Ms. Belzberg will take her charm to all five boroughs as she oversees PFAD’s 10th anniversary. Accompanying her will be Caroline Kennedy, Chancellor Klein, the deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, Carmen Farina, and other prominent supporters of the program. The group will visit schools all over the city, observing the fruits of Ms. Belzberg’s year-round labors.

Ms. Belzberg, 42, was dressed in jeans for lunch, since it was a “mommy day,” she explained, rather than a workday. Her three children go to Yeshiva, but she says there are several public schools in her neighborhood that she would be thrilled for them to attend after their bar- and bat-mitzvahs.

The daughter of Vancouver tycoon Samuel Belzberg, Ms. Belzberg attended Canadian public schools – which she described as being very similar to American schools – until she moved to New York City to attend Barnard College. Her education has continued practically unabated for 20 years. She has two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics, and is currently writing her Ph.D. dissertation in education policy and administration at NYU.

Ms. Belzberg worked in the early 1980s for political consultant David Garth and from 1990 to 1992 as a producer of “The Charlie Rose Show.” She founded Pencil in 1995 when it occurred to her that despite the fact that one-quarter of the city’s money was being poured into the school system, “nobody was talking about public education. No one thought it was sexy.”

Separated from Seagram heir Matthew Bronfman since 2001 (they divorced last year), Ms. Belzberg became a tabloid regular for a brief flurry in 2002 because of a rumored affair with President Clinton. (For what it’s worth, Senator Clinton continued helping to promote Pencil programs even after those reports burst onto and disappeared from “Page Six.”)

Pencil’s “Principal for a Day” program invites New Yorkers, many from the city’s upper echelons of business, to serve in a public school for a day. Volunteers sit in on meetings, have meals with teachers, and talk with students. About 80% of these high-powered volunteers go on to develop long-term relationships with the schools, starting scholarship funds, building playgrounds, or meeting regularly with principals to give advice and encouragement.

The network president of VH1, John Sykes, founded the education program “Save the Music” after serving in a Brooklyn school. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld sends 60 students to college every year because of his involvement. Jane Pauley produced a television special about the High School for Leadership and Public Service after her visit there. This year’s participants include the publisher of People Magazine, Paul Caine; a former vice chairwoman of the Estee Lauder Companies, Jeanette Wagner; and CNBC anchor Joe Kernen. Pencil now has 10 full-time employees and is so popular among the city’s leaders that it does no recruiting of volunteers.

After the day’s work, principals and principals-for-a-day are invited to convene at a “town hall” meeting, which will be held this year at Pace University. Ms. Belzberg expects about 700 participants to attend. Attendees will discuss their impressions in a public forum hosted by WCBS anchor Maurice DuBois.

“They’re so jazzed,” she said. “Everyone is always so astonished by how dedicated the teachers are!”

Some critics have accused PFAD of trafficking in boosterism for the status quo. The goal, after all, is periodic infusions of cash, supplies, and attention from the private sector, rather than reform of the schools’ deepest problems. The program’s support by the education establishment seems to confirm this critique, since Pencil’s essential argument is that public schools are doing well under the leadership they already have – they need better stuff rather than better staff. Mayor Bloomberg, his education staff, and the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, are all regular participants.

Ms. Belzberg’s insistence that the schools are already overwhelmingly positive places seems to affirm her basic faith in the system as is. But she is agitating for a sort of change: She sees the public schools operating in a parallel universe almost completely separated from the rest of the city, and she wants to bring those two spheres together.

“I used to walk by a [needy public] school every day, but what could I do, knock on the door?” she said. Business leaders, even those who were already concerned about public education, had no way of connecting. Her goal for Pencil is that it “have a role in giving respect to educators” and “stem the isolation between principals and the community.”

PFAD will shift its schedule this year; the program will repeat on October 20 and then continue yearly every fall, rather than in the spring. Since principal turnover is so high, Pencil wants to forge its relationships at the beginning of the school year.

This year, it also means there will be a second burst of publicity just in time for the mayoral election. “This mayor has staked his name on public education,” Ms. Belzberg said. She believes the election will be largely a referendum on the state of the schools.

Ms. Belzberg modestly describes Pencil’s political work, using its growing clout with the city’s elite, as “informing, convening, and advocating.”

So will Pencil throw its by-now-significant weight behind a particular candidate? Ms. Belzberg’s eyes sparkled, but she won’t name names – yet.

“We’re going to have some fun,” she said. “We’ll be in the game.”