These kids put the gadgets down and got to tape their principal to a wall

This is what you call sticking to a promise.

For the past three years, Alhambra Primary and Grantfork Elementary Principal Cindy Tolbert has led both schools through the “Take the Challenge” program, which is meant to help decrease a child’s chance of being exposed to media violence and increase time spent with family.

For five weeks, Tolbert would teach the children special lessons catered toward creating alternatives for entertainment to get kids away from their TV, computer or video game screens. But after the lessons were over, all of the classes in Grantfork and Alhambra were challenged to go one step further — go without looking at a screen of any kind for five days.

Students brought in a participation sheet signed by a parent each day. At the end of the week, the scores were tallied. The winning class of each school got the school trophy. But more importantly, they also got to tape Tolbert to a wall.

Marilyn Paur’s fifth-grade class won the challenge at Grantfork.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Paur said. “I promised the kids I would do a cartwheel if they won.”

So, as promised, Paur kicked off the awards ceremony April 7 with a perfect cartwheel as her students cheered her on. Then they turned on Tolbert.

Tolbert stood before a giant trophy, as the 70 students of Grantfork Elementary sprinted into the gymnasium, stomping their feet and clapping their hands to Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” With multicolored duct tape, the fifth-graders hurriedly secured Tolbert to the wall. When they were all done, a wooden block was pulled out from under her feet and she was left hanging on the wall while the kids ate lunch and went out to recess.

“To me it’s worth being duct taped to a wall if we can get kids out and about to exercise and be more active,” Tolbert said.

The kids thought it was worth it, too.

“I thought that she wasn’t going to stick,” said Grantfork fifth-grader Katie Frank. “I could hear the tape coming off the wall, but then she stuck.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "These kids put the gadgets down and got to tape their principal to a wall."