Principal Gets Her Fill of Pies as Auction Prize

Rewarded for gathering auction items to buy computers for their school, a steady stream of nearly 260 students pummeled their principal Friday with plates of whipped-cream pies.

Kindergartners through eighth-graders at Ascension Lutheran School in Thousand Oaks thoroughly enjoyed the 1 1/2-hour “Let the Pie Fly” event, during which they aimed gloppy tarts at the school’s Mary Kantola.

“I got her right in the glasses,” 5-year-old Cody Cook told his kindergarten teacher, proud to be the first one whose pie made contact with Kantola’s face. “Wasn’t that a good shot?”

Kantola, who swatted away incoming pies with a pizza pan, agreed to such sweetly flavored abuse in the name of a school fund-raiser.

Students were told they would be rewarded with a pie-at-the-principal day when they rounded up 300 items to sell at the school’s fourth annual auction at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley. Proceeds from the auctioned items will help buy nine computers and add upgrades to the school’s 18 terminals.

Last year, the auction brought in $17,000, which paid for playground equipment, said Ron McFadden, the school’s publicity chairman.

The goal this year is to raise $1 more than that, he said. The auction items include two round-trip airline tickets for use in the continental U.S, six passes to Magic Castle and a weeklong stay at the Ventura Beach House.

When students and parents reached their self-imposed goal of 100 items, the usually uniformed kids were treated with a free dress day. When they reached 200 gifts, everyone got ice cream.

But it goes without saying that reaching the final goal of 300 items reaped the sweetest victory.

With a devilish smile on his face, 8-year-old Christopher Marr prepped himself for a rare opportunity to smack Kantola with a plastic plate full of melting cream.

“You’re gonna be busted,” he said, his projectile landing on the principal’s T-shirt.

Laughing, Kantola wiped her smudged glasses and tried in vain to rid her hair of a glob of cream.

“After this, I’m going to wash up and change,” Kantola said. “This is not what I wore to school today.”

Although the auction is sold out, seats may become available if there are cancellations. For those interested, call the school at 496-2419.