Third-grader is principal for a day
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Third-grader Vanessa Kumar Suglani listens to Don Fuller, a custodian at Sage Point Elementary School, after giving him a 10-year service pin.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Third-grader Vanessa Kumar Suglani and Principal Noreen Thomas walk the halls of Sage Point Elementary School on Friday morning to make sure all the doors are closed.
MOSES LAKE — Principal Noreen Thomas and third-grader Vanessa Kumar Suglani were walking down the halls of Sage Point Elementary School together on Friday morning.
“Remember to close the doors, it’s about safety,” Thomas tells Kumar Suglani.
“There’s one,” Kumar Suglani said.
And she crosses the hallway to close the door.
“As principal, you have to keep your eye on everything,” Thomas told the third-grader.
Kumar Suglani listened carefully and attentively to Thomas’ instructions. She had to. She was Sage Point’s principal for the day on Friday, doing everything Thomas did, and going nearly everywhere Thomas goes.
“It’s fun, I get to hang out with Mrs. Thomas. I knew that she had to do a lot of things in a day, but I didn’t know she had to do this much” Kumar Suglani said.
And she is doing everything Thomas does — make the announcements, give the awards for the school spelling bee, make the morning announcement, fill out a work order to replace a ceiling tile, give out new four square and soccer balls at recess, even talk to a kindergärtner who said someone hit her on the bus this morning.
“It was nerve-wracking to do announcements,” Kumar Suglani said.
Thomas, who has been doing this since Sage Point opened nine years ago, said she picks a student to be Principal for a Day once a year as a “motivational prize” for kids participating in the American Heart Association’s “Jump Rope for Heart” fundraiser.
“And to save people’s hearts,” Kumar Suglani added.
The morning, however, found Kumar Suglani wandering the halls with certificates and pins for staff members — a 10-year pin for custodian Don Fuller and a 30-year pin for librarian Jan Hall.
“You know what I’d like?” Fuller asked. “Ice cream. Every day.”
“Sure!” Kumar Suglani said.
Back in the office, she finds a stack of boxes waiting to be dealt with.
“This is on you,” Thomas said. “You need to get on the radio.”
After a bit of coaching, Kumar Suglani picks up the radio and asks for “Custodian Don.”
“We have a delivery from the office,” she said. “We need you to deliver some boxes.”
“We’re going to be hopping today,” Thomas said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.