By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
Principal gets dye job after students hit the books
”Is this an improvement?” Weston School Principal Don Frank asked the school’s third-grade students Tuesday as he displayed his newly dyed blue and gold hair.
”Yes,” the students responded, smiling and giggling.
”It looks better than my gray hair,” Mr. Frank said.
”Yes,” the students said, louder this time, excited the minutes they spent reading meant a new look for the principal.
A program created by the school’s third-grade teachers challenged the students to read 250,000 minutes by Jan. 31. If the students did, Mr. Frank promised to temporarily dye his hair Manville blue and gold.
As the end of the month neared, it seemed like the students wouldn’t make it, third-grade teacher Rebecca Fosbre said, but the students pulled together and exceeded their goal by just 10 minutes.
”It gives a tangible way of showing he (Mr. Frank) cares,” Ms. Fosbre said. “It’s really remarkable to see a principal who will go to this extent to get kids learning.”
Reading at home, during school or simply reading a recipe or helping their younger siblings read counted toward the minutes for the contract.
In addition, the school’s third-grade teachers, Jennifer Griffiths, Ms. Fosbre, Paul Gallagher, and Emily Rodino organized “reading trains,” filling the school hallways Fridays with students engrossed in books.
”It really allowed the kids to see that everybody reads and everybody needs to read,” Ms. Fosbre said.
As the students watched the ceremony in the school’s auditorium, their excitement grew though seeing Mr. Frank’s tresses colored blue and gold may have been at the forefront of the students’ minds the principal stressed the activity’s learning emphasis.
”For me, the most important thing is not standing up here and doing what I’m about to do,” Mr. Frank said before Jessi Alpizar, a Weston parent and hair salon owner, began his makeover. “The important thing is that your teachers and I gave you an opportunity to be better.
”It matters because everything there is to do in this world can be learned by being able to read. Anything you want to do, you can learn if you can read.”
Mr. Frank sat in a chair on the stage, opening a book he would read to students as Ms. Alpizar covered his clothes with a smock. Ms. Aplizar donated the spray on dye and her services to the school for the event, Ms. Fosbre said.
Though spraying the colors on Mr. Frank’s hair took only a few minutes, Mr. Frank had another surprise for the students 10 students who read the most during the challenge were to paint Mr. Frank’s fingernails blue and gold.
”It just kind of showed them it takes a lot of hard work, and everyone has to do their part,” Mr. Frank said after the makeover. “They all knew they had to take part. If everyone did not take part, the contract would be null and void.”
Since the contract lasted only half a year, the teachers are working on a second challenge, this time involving multiplication tables. Though the reward’s not yet decided, Mr. Frank said it would probably involve his hair again.
”I’m just glad the children reached their goal,” Mr. Frank said. “It was a way for them to practice their reading.”
