Each year, Metuchen’s Campbell Elementary School Principal Ed Porowski challenges his students to push their limits. Two years ago, the children were challenged to read as many pages as they could within a week’s timeframe. The top readers in each class had the opportunity to have Porowski dress up in a hot dog costume and they doused him with ketchup and mustard. Last year, the students were given a pedometer challenge to see how far they could go. The top class in each grade that went the furthest distance duct taped Porowski to the wall at the opening exercises for field day.
Porowski’s decided that this year, he wanted to see if his students would be able to be screen free for an entire week. Students are currently earning principal dollars for every two hours of “screen free time” that they log during their “free time” in the evenings and on the weekend. Students are going to use those dollars to select what color Porowski’s hair will be dyed.
“I wanted my students to shut down the computers, TVs, and video games, and find other ways to be active and engaged. If that means that I’ll have pink hair for a month or so, then so be it! They’ll remember the lesson I’m trying to teach them, and hopefully find a few other things to do besides watching a screen,” Porowski said.
Porowski’s challenge is aligned to the 2016 National Screen Free Week, which started in the 1980s to challenge children to turn off their televisions. Voting for Porowski’s hair color will happen on May 4.