'Read This!' The Slimy Principals Said

Photos by Brian Mather

Regular Digital Notebook readers will remember this image from a June 28, 2012 post. In it, Principal Calista Boyer, then principal at Edgewood Elementary, is made into an ice cream sundae by her students after they met her challenge to read 5,000 books by the end of the year. Being slimed would be child's play, literally, for a woman this committed.

Blogger's Note: Recently a flyer went home with students from Lincoln and Rupert elementary schools. It said this:

In honor of Families and Reading Month, the principals are having a friendly reading competition between Lincoln Elementary School and Rupert Elementary School.

The Challenge -- Which school can read the most pages AT HOME from April 1,  to April 30?

The Reward -- The school that reads the most pages will get to “Slime” their principal! 

All students that turn in a calendar will receive a prize!

Here’s how it works -- Complete the monthly reading log. Turn it in by the end of the day Friday, May 2. We will total the number of pages read, and see which school wins!

Now, having read this flyer, I am intrigued.

I don't know about you, but knowing both of these principals as long as I have, this strikes me as a challenge not to be ignored.

As some readers may recall, Calista Boyer was the principal at Edgewood Elementary School until it was closed as part of the elementary school re-organization. But she didn't miss a beat and moved right over to Lincoln (my neighborhood school).

While at Edgewood, Mrs. Boyer kissed a pig, let her students put cream pies in her face, and let them turn her into an ice cream sundae, all in the cause of inspiring them to read.

Teachers Terry Shank and Max Donnelly took their lumps
along with Rupert Principal Matt Moyer, right.

So normally, my money would be on her. 

But Matt Moyer is no slouch in the crazy stunt department. 

Now occupying the building Boyer once led, while the original Rupert is being gutted and renovated, Moyer has also allowed his students to throw a pie in both his face, and the faces of most of his staff.

He has also challenged his students to raise money for Pottstown's Relay for Life by pledging to have his closely-cropped hair styled into a purple Mohawk.

Mr. Moyer in younger days?

In other words, I'm not sure where to put my money. 

I'll root for Lincoln, because its my home school and taught my son well and because I think Mrs. Boyer is definitely up for the challenge and will not shy away from inspiring her students. 

(Also, I know it will rub Mr. Moyer the wrong way that I picked a favorite and it wasn't him, and that will push him even harder!)

But I know better than to underestimate Mr. Moyer. 

Pies, purple Mohawks, the guy is up for anything when it comes to his students.

In fact, the only think I can say for sure, is that a whole lot of books are going to be read in Pottstown this month.

It's All Happening at the Library

Libraries are intended to be community gather places, a one-stop-shop for resources and, as always, a place
to get really great books, movies and music -- all for free.

And if you take a look at what's happening at libraries this month, you would be hard-pressed to disagree.

* So, as this flyer shows, the Pottstown Regional Public Library is celebrating "Family Reading Month" in April, challenging family to read together for 20 minutes a day for 20 days.

But you have to register by next Saturday.

* The Pottstown Regional Public Library is also hosting an important new workshop on Tuesday April 16 at 10 a.m.

That's when Genesis Housing Corp. and National Penn Bank will host a free workshop on "Banking Basics."


Topics will include: Banking for Real Life; Free and Low Cost Accounts; How to Start or Start Over; How to Avoid Identity Fraud.

It will also offer the opportunity to ask the experts your questions and chances to win door prizes.


For more information and to register, call 610-275-4357 or visit www.genesishousing.org


* Further, Danielle Small, library media specialist over at the Pottsgrove High School Library has announced  plans to celebrate National Library Week there, from April 14 to April 20.

The include Amnesty Day (April 15); Design Your Own Bookmark Day (April 16); and Student Drawing to win Barnes and Noble Gift Card Day (April 19).

Appropriately, National Library Week occurs during School Library Month, according to the American Library Association, which sponsors both celebrations.

School Library Month began in 1985 and the theme of the first national observance of School Library Month was "Where Learning Never Ends: The School Library Media Center."

Family (Reading) History

The family that reads together, can also eat together ... at Texas Roadhouse or Friendly's.

But to do that, you have to register for Family Reading Month at the Pottstown Regional Public Library by April 13.

The objective of the program, according to Leslie Stillings, the youth services director at the library, is for children to read with a family member for 20 minutes a day for 20 days, until May 4.

A child who succeeds in meeting this goal are guaranteed a meal voucher at either a Texas Roadhouse or Friendly's.

All books must be borrowed from the library to qualify and the library provides a sheet on which an X can be marked on each day a child reads for 20 minutes with a family member.

She also advises kids to keep a list of titles and to watch their list grow.

To be eligible for prizes, the completed calendar must be brought to the library by May 4.

Did we say prizes? (Plural?) Yup.

Each time you visit the library and check out a book, you can fill in a prize drawing ticket for a chance to win a "special prize."

Those prizes are currently under lock and key and guarded by spells and a three-headed dog, but word on the street is that they might include "hideout" gear, like sleeping bags, flashlights and, what else? Books.

But don't do it just for the prizes, reading to your children, or having them read to you, has far more valuable rewards than restaurant tickets or sleeping bags.

The goal is to get kids to read on their own as well.

"Reading to young children is one of the very best things that parents can do for them," write family education experts Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S. on the Family Education web site.

"Infants will delight in being cuddled and hearing the calming voices of their parents even though they don't understand the words. Soon they'll associate reading with attention, love, and pretty pictures."

They added: "Reading to young children is excellent preparation for formal reading instruction in school.So much of the intelligence children will ultimately have is developed before they even get to kindergarten. When you read to them, you are building pathways in their brains needed for successful reading experiences."