Betz counselor Bridie Riddick takes her turn with Phoenix, a one-year-old steer especially brought in by paraeducator Shane Hammel's family to be kissed.
Betz Elementary School Principal Carla Hudson gives Phoenix the cow a big ole smooch as part of a year-long bet with students. See the story on page 2.
Multiple Betz Elementary administrators had to face the music Wednesday, June 12, and pucker up: to a one-year-old, brown and white steer named Phoenix.
The smooch heard round the school was the result of a year-long bet instructors made with students about the number of "class coupons" the students could collect as reward for good behavior.
School counselor Margaret "Bridie" Riddick first challenged Principal Carla Hudson back in September, declaring that if students earned 400 coupons by the end of the year, Hudson would be honor-bound to kiss a cow.
Hudson upped the ante and dared students to get 500 coupons to require assistant principal Alison Tobler to give the cow a peck, too. Tobler took it a step further and said if the kids earned 600 coupons, Riddick would also have to take part in the farmyard bet.
The bet was enough to inspire a full cow-themed hallway display showing the number of coupons earned over time.
The bovine brouhaha proved to be quite the incentive, and students collected about 700 coupons over the course of the year, sealing the fate of all three administrators and forcing them to put their money where their mouth is –- and their mouth where the cow is.
"All of the kids really got into it," Hudson said. "And class coupons cannot be awarded by a child's own teacher."
Students could earn coupons by walking quietly in the halls, being kind to classmates, cleaning up during lunchtime and exhibiting other positive behaviors, Hudson said.
The cow in question was provided by another school employee. Paraeducator Shane Hammel had a sister who showed livestock in FFA events and was kind enough to bring Phoenix down to the school yard for the show.
Students of all ages lined the sidewalk for more than a block, chanting at the top of their lungs for their teachers to, "Kiss the cow!"
And kiss the cow they did, delivering several solid smacks to the nose that left Phoenix sporting pink lipstick smudges for his trouble.
Moral of the story: don't make a bet with Betz--- they'll follow through in a big way.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)