Kid at heart in Lakewood Ranch

Todd Richardson, the principal of B.D. Gullett Elementary School, grabbed a bright yellow sun umbrella, a large hat, a chair and his laptop and made his way to the school’s rooftop March 26.

He waved to students as they entered the building for the day and watched from above as students played outside for recess. He surprised students with a super soaker and a hose, spraying them.

When he’s not interacting with students from the roof, he’s still managing to get work done. 

“I get Wi-Fi signals, so I work and use a lot of sunscreen,” Richardson said.

On March 11, Richardson dressed as a leprechaun and rollerbladed around the school.

On March 5, Richardson spent the day getting slimed by hundreds of students and also kissed a pig.

Whether it’s dressing as Cupid, rollerblading around the school dressed as a chicken or allowing a BMX bike rider to jump over his head, Richardson is willing to do whatever it takes to get his students more engaged in academics and fundraising.

“Working in an elementary school is the best job you could ever have because you get to be a kid with a bunch of kids,” he said. “Yes, I have an important job, and I have to be the adult, but I like to act like a kid, too, so I get to do those fun things.”

Richardson works with the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization to come up with ideas to make fundraisers or events more fun.

“We can sit around and come up with ideas all day long, but if he doesn’t agree to it, then it’s back to the drawing board, so to speak,” said Kristin Pomeroy, the PTO president. “I’m not sure how many other principals would head out to [physical education] and dance with the kids while wearing a Cupid outfit or dressed up as a leprechaun, kiss a pig multiple times or get slimed by over 270 kids. The great part about it, he has a blast while doing all of that.”

In his 17 years with the School District of Manatee County, Richardson has been duct-taped to the wall, dyed his hair and beard, and dressed in numerous costumes, including Elf on the Shelf and Buddy the Elf from the movie “Elf” for the holidays.

Richardson has also dressed up and given out treats to his staff as a gesture of appreciation. On Valentine’s Day last year, he dressed as Cupid and went classroom to classroom passing out flowers and chocolate.

“I don’t have a problem embarrassing myself,” Richardson said. “I don’t know what it is, I really don’t care. It’s all for the kids. It’s all for the fun. You’re building an experience for these kids.”

This year, Richardson went all out with his antics for the school’s annual walkathon.

“You can kind of sense the kids get super excited, and then it’s almost like a dare or a bet,” Richardson said.

Any student who raised at least $125 had the opportunity to slime Richardson.

When the school raised $20,000, Richardson dressed as a leprechaun and rollerbladed around the school. At $30,000, he agreed to kiss a pig. For $40,000, he promised to work from the school’s rooftop all day. When the school raised $45,000, he committed to car-line karaoke, and at $50,000 he said he’d dye his hair and beard in a rainbow.

“These incentives are amazing and extremely helpful,” Pomeroy said. “When the kids heard he was willing to kiss a pig if we exceeded our goal, they loved it. There were actually kids making pig sounds at him and snorting when they saw him on campus. The more things he agreed to do, the more money we continued to raise because the kids and the parents talked it up so much.”

The school raised $69,690 for the walkathon, which made it the most successful fundraiser in Gullett Elementary history.

“I strongly believe Mr. Richardson made a huge impact with us raising so much money,” Pomeroy said. “The kids were excited about all of the funny things he was willing to do, but the parents are especially pumped about his car-line karaoke gig.”

Richardson was looking forward to car-line karaoke as well.

“I know I’m not good at it, and people know I’m not good at it, he said. “It’s just going to be one of those just go out there and make it happen.”

Richardson started doing incentives when he was an assistant principal at Rowlett Academy for Arts and Communication. He volunteered to eat chocolate-covered crickets.

“The kids just went nuts for that kind of stuff,” he said.

Richardson is willing to do some crazy things, but there’s one where he’d have to say no: shaving his head or beard.

One student activity he’s not fond of is being taped to the wall.

“I didn’t think I was claustrophobic until you get duct-taped by 1,000 pieces of duct tape to a wall, and you cannot move, and it’s hot and sweaty and itchy,” Richardson said with a laugh. “It’s dreadful.”