Teachers find flipping burgers not so easy

NORTH CANAAN —North Canaan Elementary School (NCES) students and their families who went to the local McDonald’s for dinner on Jan. 8  found their teachers behind the counter, ready to take their orders and cook their burgers and fries.

It was all part of the second annual McTeacher Night. Twenty percent of proceeds from sales from 4 to 7:30 p.m. (this year, a total of $359) were donated by the franchise to the school’s PTO.

It’s not their biggest fundraiser of the year, PTO President Nikki Blass said, but it’s easily the one that’s the most fun.

Well, maybe not all would agree. The pressing question put to faculty members was, “Which is harder, this or teaching?�

The answer was always, “This!�

First-grade teacher Linda Peppe put on an impressive show at the fries station, deftly moving baskets in and out of a row of beeping deep fryers, and salting and bagging the crispy results to keep up with demand. All the while, she cheerfully greeted students who called to her from the front counter.

In the kitchen, learning the highly automated and specific cooking procedures was as challenging as learning algebra, but students were supportive of the faculty’s efforts. Jessie MacDonald waited patiently for her Chicken McNuggets, sure that her favorite teacher, Francine Lavoie, would make the best nuggets ever.

Teacher Eve Bouchard, who was unable to volunteer that night, lent her support by buying a meal, at the drive-through.

She thought she was being discreet. Her colleagues suggested she was afraid of being compelled to work if she came inside.

But student Mitchell Blass was working the payment window. He was able, with some urging, to check the computer to see if she ordered a healthy meal. (We’ll say no more.)

Next up for the PTO, which gets the prize for supporting the most imaginative ideas for fundraising and philanthropy, is a Crayon War.

It is part of Crayons for Cancer, which benefit’s the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Students bring in their broken crayons, seeking to win a PTO-sponsored pizza party for the class that collects the most by weight.

On Feb. 2, students and their families will spend the evening peeling paper coverings and sorting crayons by color, so that Crayons for Cancer can collect them to be melted down and molded into whimsical shapes for sale.

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