“On a recent Monday night, South Whidbey High School assistant principal Doug Hale thought for certain that the pile of canned food donations sitting in the school office totaled no more than 500 items.And all night, as he slept in his bed at home, he hoped he was right.It’s not that Hale didn’t want the school to take as much donated food as possible to the Good Cheer food bank in Langley but, rather, he wanted to preserve his dignified good looks.In a deal made earlier this fall with the student body, Hale agreed to have his hair dyed blue if students could collect more than 6,000 items for the food bank. School principal Mike Johnson upped the ante, offering half of his beard and mustache if the students broke this barrier.Well, the kids did it, and on Wednesday morning, the two administrators paid the piper in front of the school’s 730 students. Senior Briony Morrow-Cribbs took a paint brush loaded with blue dye to Hale’s hair, while senior Marilee Jolin, clippers in hand, removed half of Johnson’s facial hair. And all the while, hundreds of students pressed in on the scene to get a look and have a good giggle at the adminstrators’ expense.Though he looked a little lopsided after his shave, Johnson tried to get in on the students’ fun when he offered to finish dying Hale’s head. Hale gave him a definite “no.”“There’s one person I trust and she’s doing it,” Hale said of Morrow-Cribbs.Johnson did eventually get in on the blue dye, when Morrow-Cribbs painted the remainder of his beard blue.The follicle disfigurement the two men chose was just one of several options proposed when the students started the food drive. Both decided against having the letters “SW” shaved onto the backs of their heads. Teacher and Key Club advisor Maura Clevinger said she and several students came up with the food drive idea after discovering that Good Cheer was low on food for the holiday season. They stopped counting food items Tuesday night when they reached 6,250. Students dropped off the entire load of food Wednesday morning before the shaving and hair dyeing of the school’s administrators.Eagles help Good CheerAnother effort to replenish Good Cheer’s holiday food larder will be held Wednesday, Dec. 1 from noon to 7 p.m. at the Whidbey Island Eagles lodge on Highway 525 south of Freeland. For a $5 donation, you can enjoy a variety of soups, salads and desserts. All proceeds will go to Good Cheer.”