As countless school staff members attempt to break the Internet with snow day parodies of Adele’s "Hello," one Maryland principal is going viral with a more unique take on blizzard videos.
The video, created by Waterloo Elementary School principal Sean Martin, offers a comical inside look at what principals do at school when there is a snow closing.
“Despite how much snow we got, a principal’s job is never done,” Martin says as the video begins. “I want you to see the successful, productive day that principals have on blizzard snow days.”
Martin then dances in the school hallways, recreating Tom Cruise’s iconic dance moves from the film "Risky Business," and spends his day playing basketball, pretending to be a lunch lady, making snow angels, and even being chastised by custodial worker Ray Slater for throwing toilet paper in the hallways.
In a more serious scene, Martin takes a moment to thank Slater and his fellow custodial workers for their hard work in clearing the snow and getting the school ready to reopen.
“The whole purpose of why I sent this out was just to really bring a smile to the parents’ and staff members’ faces,” Martin told TODAY Parents, adding that he asked his staff to send in photos of their own snow day adventures, and made the video as a way to inspire them to participate.
“Blizzards in Maryland are a big deal,” said Martin. “I asked everyone to safeguard their families, but also to make memories and have fun.”
Stefanie Rye is PTA president at the school, and says her daughter, Natalie, a fifth-grader, thought the video was funny and loved seeing her principal act silly.
“The video is a huge hit with the Waterloo community,” said Rye. “Parents and kids love the idea that their principal would do such crazy antics in their school on a snow day.”
What began as a video for his school community is now becoming a viral hit. To date, the video has more than 200,000 views.
Michelle Sullivan, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, says she’s not surprised the video has garnered so much attention.
“I can only imagine my students’ reaction to Mr. Martin’s video,” said Sullivan. “After a week of being home, the snow day video came at the perfect time. My immediate reaction to the video was laughter…it’s crazy how a three-minute video of our principal making a fool of himself could positively effect an entire school community.”
Martin isn’t the only Maryland school administrator creating viral snow day videos. Brad Spence, an assistant principal at Havre De Grace High School, recently created "Snowline Bling," a Drake parody in which he dances and sings of the joys of receiving a call saying that school has been canceled.
“I thought it would be fun to do the video and give everyone a good laugh since everyone is stuck inside waiting for that phone call,” said Spence.
After spending two hours to record the song and videotape, Spence posted it to the school's YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts,
"It has been really cool to read comments from former students and school communities," said Spence.