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ROTTERDAM
Events aimed at getting kids to ‘Turn off the TV’
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    Step away from that remote.
    The Jefferson Elementary School PTO is encouraging students to get away from their video screens and enjoy some fun activities as part of “Turn off the TV Week.”
    For the past few years, the school has been holding TVfree weeks, but the PTO wanted to make it a bigger weeklong event to attract student interest. Among the events are a roller skating party, swimming, a magic show and a concert by the Zucchini Brothers.
    Kate Kruk, co-chairperson for the event along with her husband, David, said their family is relatively new to the Schalmont Central School District and they wanted to do something to involve the community. Some of these are new activities that the district hasn’t tried before, she said. The key is getting children totally unplugged — away from TV, video games and phones.
    “It gets hard for the parents to come up with things to limit those distractions for a little while and just spend some good times with your kids,” she said.
    Principal Joby Gifford said the school usually schedules TV-free week during the dead of winter.
    “What we often find is there’s not as much to do and sometimes kids find themselves watching more TV than they typically do,” he said.
    Gifford credited Kruk with spearheading the project and obtaining funding and sponsors, which allowed all but the skating event to be free.
    Things kicked off Monday with an evening of roller skating at Rollarama on Hamburg Street. This evening from 6 to 8 p.m. there is swimming at the Rotterdam Boys and Girls Club.
    On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, there will be events in the Jefferson Elementary School gymnasium.
    There will be a performance Wednesday by the magician Domino the Great at 6:30 p.m. On Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. the Empire State Aerosciences Museum will present “Fun with Flight,” featuring demonstrations of model helicopters.
    The week concludes Friday with a concert at the school by the Zucchini Brothers presented by Hoosic Valley Trucking. Kruk described the pop/rock group as “easygoing” and like the “Grateful Dead” for kids because of its hugely popular following.
    Kruk also said that she and her husband are pretty active and scheduled events that exercise the body, like roller skating and swimming, but also those that stimulate the mind like the magic act, fl ight demonstrations and concert.
    In addition, the school held a contest to create a “Turn off the TV Week” poster. One student from each grade was selected as a winner. ...................>>>>.................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00703&AppName=1

The RBGC is the place in town to NOT be tonight.  There's no parking, you need to walk blocks to get in, the pool is over-chlorinated (or under, maybe, it smells too much like chlorine to be near it) and people who have got close enough say there's no room to really swim.