Russell Street read-a-thon nets $22,000, sends principal to school roof

Paws on LPS · Meeting of August 20, 2026

LITTLETON — Russell Street School's spring read-a-thon raised $22,000 and logged 113,000 minutes of student reading, more than doubling its original $10,000 fundraising goal. Principal Colin McDonald and Russell Street PTA lead representative Katasha Clark discussed the March 2-10 campaign on the Littleton School Committee's "Paws on LPS" podcast, hosted by Vice Chair Sean O'Hearn. McDonald slept overnight on the school roof as a fulfillment of his incentive pledge, saying "I picked the one week where it was like 85 degrees for the whole night." Seventeen staff members ran a track relay in inflatable costumes to celebrate, and donations came in from 25 states and three countries outside the U.S.

Clark said the Russell Street PTA is down to three active building representatives and is recruiting more volunteers.

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Source: the Paws on LPS meeting of August 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.