BERGEN

Principal on the roof: Rutherford administrator keeps promise

Meghan Grant
South Bergenite

Principal Kurt Schweitzer made good on his promise to his students, spending the night on the school roof after Union School students read more than double the number of articles-over a school year-in response to a reading challenge issued earlier this school year. This year they read 24,888 articles.

At the beginning of the school year, the principal challenged his students to read 10,000 articles on Newsela, a database that publishes daily news articles from leading publications at five reading levels. According to their website, Newsela's database aims to increase literacy and knowledge of national and world events, offering articles at reading levels for grades 2 to 12.

"It was fun. I actually had a couple of board members and teachers come visit me," Schweitzer said about the experience. He had visitors throughout the night as parents and students dropped by to say hello, resulting in "not really too much sleep."

Union School streamed the principal's outdoor excursion on its website.

"I turned off the light about 11:30 p.m., and I would take out and tap my phone once every hour so that they'd know I was still there," Schweitzer said. "At about 4:30 a.m., I got up, said to myself 'I think I'm done now,' and went about my day. It was a great experience to do for the students, to see how excited they were to know I would be up there."

Schweitzer explained that teachers can utilize Newsela because it applies to all their subjects, and builds critical reading skills.

"The nice thing about this about this website is it will adjust the reading level according to the child's reading level. If they are interested in reading about a current event, say the California drought, they then have to take a quiz on it afterward. They aren't very long articles, which is good because I think it really keeps their interest. After they read it, there are different questions to assess their skills, to see if they have a true understanding of the article," he said.

The principal said he used the database at home with his own children, where he came up with the idea of turning it into a school-wide challenge.

"I said 'let's come up with a goal. How about 10,000 articles for the entire school to read by the end of the school year?' I thought at the time that it was a pretty lofty goal," he said. Schweitzer sent out a letter to parents explaining the challenge. "I said if you reach the goal, I'll sleep on the roof or lip sync a song of their choosing."

By springtime students had not only met the goal, but also had read more than twice that number of articles-24,888.

The students chose the campout, and Schweitzer spent the night of Thursday, May 12 on the roof. Fortunately for him, the weather was a tad warmer and less rainy than the last week had been.

"They almost tripled our goal. It is just amazing, and I'm really proud of them," Schweitzer said. "They took the time to do this, and it was something they obviously enjoyed. It's a win-win for everybody. They are gaining essential skills that they need, being able to infer, analyze and read at different levels, and at the same time, they have some fun because they get to see their principal on the roof."

Schweitzer said the skills gained through this challenge are transferable to students even outside the classroom.

Students have access to the news-article bank courtesy of a grant available through the Rutherford Education Foundation.

While certainly unusual, Schweitzer isn't the first Rutherford principal to sleep under the stars at school for a good cause.

Four years ago Lincoln School Principal Jeanna Velechko camped out in a tent on school grounds after students in the first through third grades raised more than $14,000 in a walk-a-thon to go toward the Lincoln Woods projects. Students walked up and down Montross Avenue to raise money to turn the 1.8-acre site into an environmental study area. Principal Velechko promised she'd dye her hair a color of their choice if they raised $7,000 and camp out if they raised more than $14,000.

"My students keep asking me 'how can you top this one?' I say, give me a little time, I can think of something," Schweitzer said.

Email: grantm@northjersey.com