MONTGOMERY - Although it's not encouraged for most to sleep while at school, Montgomery Elementary School students were excited to see their teachers and administrators do so last Thursday night.
But the 12 educators upped the ante a bit by dozing on the school's roof.
"We were pretty much up all night and, in about a half hour, they'll all be in their classrooms teaching," Principal Karen Snyder said last Friday morning.
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RASHELLE CAREY/Sun-Gazette
Middle school students entertain the 12 teachers camping out on the roof of Montgomery Elementary School last Thursday evening. The teachers were on the roof as part of a reward for the elementary students for raising more than $6,000 in donations for the parent-teacher organization.
The school sleep over was as a reward for students because they surpassed their goal of raising $6,000 at a recent walk-a-thon fundraiser for the school's parent-teacher organization.
Snyder said the PTO wanted to motivate the students to reach the goal, so it asked teachers to sleep on the roof if the target was reached.
Asked if the plan worked, Snyder said: "Oh, yeah."
"They were definitely pumped for this," said Joy Sullivan, second-grade teacher.
The students raised about $6,300 during the event.
So, at about 4 p.m. last Thursday, 12 educators set up camp on the roof and didn't come down until 8:30 a.m. the following day.
But, for most of the night, they weren't alone. Students and their families stopped by and kept them company from below.
"We had kids here from 4 (p.m.) until probably around 9 (p.m.)," Sullivan said
Even cold temperatures and a little rain wasn't enough to make the educators give up and leave for the night.
"We had a lot of fun," Snyder said. "It wasn't too bad. We all had ski pants and layers."
"It was really good," Sullivan said. "As long as you stayed layered, it was fine."
The group had canopies, tents and handwarmers for their 16 1/2 hour event. And Snyder said families were nice enough to send meals and snacks to the roof for them.
"Overall, it was chilly, but it was a comfortable night," said Pete Ruhl, fifth-grade teacher. "There were plenty of supplies."
To help pass the time, the group threw candy to students who came to visit them, and high-school students practicing for their play performed skits for the teachers.
As the night went on, they only had each other.
"We just kind of huddled around and were just talking," Snyder said.
There were no good nights of sleep on the roof. Sullivan estimated she got about three hours of sleep.
"We had sleeping bags and tents. We had Snuggies," she said. "Some people slept in tents. Some people slept in lawn chairs."
"It kind of looked like tent city," Snyder added.
And what little sleep they did get, Sullivan said, was interrupted by the rumbling of a garbage truck at 3 a.m. and a passing train.
All 12 were up and yelling, "Good morning," and waving to students, parents and teachers as they arrived at school.
"I think they'll be surprised that we're still here," Sullivan said.
Ruhl said although they didn't get much sleep, Friday always gives them extra energy and that was enough to power them through the day.
