Principal rises to the occasion
He fulfills vow after students raise funds
Muskego — One morning last week Principal Ronald Rivard climbed down a ladder from the second-story roof of Tess Corners Elementary School into hundreds of screaming and chanting children, ending his overnight stint on the roof.
He had spent Thursday night braving an overnight temperature of 39 degrees to fulfill a promise he made to the Tess Corners kids if they raised $10,000 in their annual walkathon. They raised more than $11,000.
So, up the plucky principal went.
The walkathon usually raises $10,000, but with the struggling economy, Sharon Hopp, who founded and organizes the event, worried they would not make their goal. Indeed, the total languished well below the target until the day of the walk. But then a spurt of cash and pledges flushed in. A full quarter of the proceeds came in that day, Hopp said.
"I think it was the incentive of him sleeping on the roof" that put the drive over the top, she said.
"That's very kind of her to say that," said Rivard, who is in his fifth year as Tess Corners' principal.
The money will be used for technology, field trips and miscellaneous items, Hopp said.
The day before the 35-year-old principal went up he said that he likes to camp, but the coldest he had gone in was in the 40s.
Nevertheless, he said, "There is a cot inside the tent and I have a very cold-temperature-rated sleeping bag, so I should be OK."
And he was, Rivard reported after surviving the night.
"I was toasty," he said.
Looking back on the experience, he said, "I think the most surprising thing is I was visited pretty much constantly until 11 o'clock at night." Parents and kids dropped by and conversed from ground to roof. The ladder was taken away early and did not return until morning. The visitors wanted to know if they could get him something, and if he would really stay up there, he said. But he was well-provisioned, thanks to the snacks collected by school staff.
Rivard awoke about 5 a.m. and warmed himself over a cup of coffee brought up the ladder by custodian Rick Huckstorf. Rivard snapped several shots of the sunrise, a rooftop sight that few people see.
"I think they were breathtaking," he said.
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