Principal Covello wanted the new Benjamin Franklin High School to be “a beacon on a hill,” so the red brick and limestone building was crowned with a white cupola. Like a lighthouse, it overlooked the Harlem River and guided traffic on the Triborough Bridge. Beneath a huge American flag draped across its west portico, Congressman Vito Marcantonio, Covello’s former student, addressed the crowd at the school’s dedication.
“This great building,” Marcantonio declared, “is indeed a monument to democracy in education, truly a people’s school.” By decree of the Board of Education, it would be open “every hour of every day of the year,” providing programs and services to East Harlem, New York. Its mission, to improve the Italian immigrant community through bilingual education and civic engagement, reflected the values of its principal and founder, Leonard Covello
