Principal Casey Taylor kisses Silhouette the pig as the result of a sports fundraiser. (Elizabeth De Alwis/The Post)
Achieve Charter School Principal Casey Taylor planted her lips on a real live pig yesterday morning, cheered on by the student body despite threats of extra homework.
It was the result of a fundraising effort in which students filled more than 20 piggy banks with donations for the school’s new sports programs. Each piggy bank represented a teacher or staff member, and the pig with most money in it was the one chosen to kiss a real pig from a student’s farm during yesterday’s awards assembly. In all, the pigs held $250, and nearly half of it was in Taylor’s piggy bank. The multi-purpose room was packed with parents and students as “Silhouette” walked in for her kiss.

“I brought my special kissing lips,” Taylor said, evoking laughter from her students. “It’s no secret that I love animals,” she said sarcastically. Cameras flashed and cheers erupted as Taylor, wearing plastic red lips, leaned in to kiss the pig.

“It was wonderful,” she joked afterwards, ” a privilege.”

Though it is a well-known fact at Achieve Carter School that its principal was not an animal lover, kissing the pig was “a clear sign I love my school,” Taylor said.

The school has raised $1,100 already for the new sports and physical education programs, and now has raised another $250 from the piggy banks, Taylor said. The money will fund grades K-7 cross country, 4-7 volleyball, and 5-7 basketball.

The school recently purchased new PE equipment to meet the needs of the middle school students, but the elementary school children have been benefiting from it as well. The school also bought new uniforms for the basketball teams. Achieve has recently started competing in sporting events with other schools. On Thursday, the boys basketball team played its first game against Yuba Feather, but lost by one point, 26-25. After the pig-kissing, the students in grades K-3 received awards for academic conduct, improvement and effort, and the 4-7 grade students were announced for honor roll.