by Mike Lesko
Editor
Bedford -- Central Primary School Principal Terry Lipford sat in an old-fashioned telephone booth on his school's second floor. A paper sign above him read: "300 or bust!"
"I'm not coming out of here until we read 300 books, and we have only read 22 so far," he said gently to about a dozen kindergartners sitting on the floor in front of him the morning of March 7.
As part of Right to Read Week and Dr. Seuss' birthday (March 2), the principal offered a challenge to his 500 students in kindergarten through third-grade -- read 300 books by the end of the school day to "free" him from the booth.
At Central and the other elementary and intermediate schools in the Bedford School District, volunteers read Dr. Seuss books to students in their class rooms. Only at Central, though, did the day take such a unique twist.
Some classes were brought to the telephone booth to listen to their principal. He picked up a Dr. Seuss book, "Horton Hatches the Egg," and began reading:
"I meant what I said and I said what I meant," he read from the book. "An elephant is faithful -- 100 percent."
Down the hallway in Heather Gansler's kindergarten class, Kathy Smith, a retired Central kindergarten teacher, was also reading Dr. Seuss books to children.
Dressed in a "Cat in the Hat" costume, she wore a black outfit with a white vest and red bow, and a red-and-white-striped hat about 18 inches tall.
Naturally, she read "The Cat in the Hat" as about 20 children sat attentively on the floor:
"'Put me down,'" said the fish. "'This is no fun at all.
"'Put me down,'" said the fish. "'I do not wish to fall.'"
Afterward, Smith, who taught at Central from 1983 to 2006, said she bought the costume for Halloween after "The Cat in the Hat" movie was released a couple of years ago.
"I love reading to the children and watching their faces light up when they're excited," she said.
Gansler wore a white T-shirt with a picture of "The Cat in the Hat" on it. She and her students wore paper cut-out replica hats with a red-and-white-striped front.
Gansler's father, Bill Lavezzi, director of the Northeast Ohio Education Association, was also a volunteer reader that day.
Before the readings, Gansler prepared green eggs and ham for her students in honor of another famed Dr. Seuss book by that name.
A few moments later, an announcement was heard over the public address system: "Get reading, Central. It's going to take 300 books to get Mr. Lipford out of that telephone booth."
The phone booth was part of the original school that opened more than a century ago.
During the morning, the principal read to all five of the school's kindergarten classes in 15-minute intervals.
"That counted as five books read," said Bret Johnson, a Central third-grade teacher who helped coordinate the activity.
At noon, the top reader in each classroom visited with the principal and ate lunch with him.
Finally, at about 2:30 p.m., the principal left the phone booth. The children surpassed their goal, reading 504 books, and his self-imposed confinement was over.
E-mail: mlesko@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3167