Student is Principal for a Day

MOSES LAKE — Dalton Freitig said he would prefer, when he grows up, to be a video game designer or a professional football player. Would he want to work as an elementary school principal? “Maybe,” he said.

Dalton was one of two students at Peninsula Elementary who got help principal Sidney Richins as her Principal for a Day. Dalton, who’s in fourth grade, was top seller among the boys in the fundraising candy drive sponsored by the Peninsula PTO. Kaylea Sherwood, the top seller among the girls, helped Mrs. Richins earlier in the week.

Principal for a Day was suggested by officers in the PTO, who were looking for something different as a prize for the fundraiser. This is the second year Peninsula has chosen principals for a day.

Dalton said he didn’t realize he would get the principal’s job – for a day, at least – when he was selling candy. “I didn’t even think about it.”

Dalton was principal for a day Friday, the day of auditions for the Peninsula talent show next week. Part of his job was to run to the classrooms to get kids who were trying out, Mrs. Richins said. But Dalton disagreed with Richins’ characterization.

He didn’t run, he said. “I just walked.”

Dalton helped with the morning announcements, then accompanied Mrs. Richins as she did principal jobs. He had his own desk in the principal's office and his own clipboard. He got to carry the radio. As principal he got his own ID badge and a personalized water bottle, “and it’s in my favorite color,” lettered in purple. He got a t-shirt proclaiming him the cool principal.

Being a principal is “fun, sort of,” he said.

In answer to questions from Mrs. Richins, he said he thought the hardest part would the “paperwork.” The best part? “Bossing people around.”

And of course the principal doesn’t have to go to the lunchroom for lunch. Kendal Johnson’s mom is a volunteer with the PTO, and she asked Kendal to dress up in a waitress outfit, with a little hat and everything, to take Dalton’s order for lunch. Kendal was a little unsure about the whole thing, but she was a good sport and played waitress. After some deliberation, Dalton chose pizza, which he agreed to share with Mrs. Richins.

She asked Dalton if he had any suggestions to improve things at school, and he had one idea. School should be cut back to three days a week, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.