Pueblo West charter school parodies Britney Spears song to encourage sanitizing

PUEBLO WEST, Colo. (KRDO) -- Just a few days before returning to the classroom, a Pueblo West Charter School is trying to bring laughter to parents and students.

On Sunday, Swallows Charter Academy posted a YouTube video called, "It's Not Hard to Sanitize," a parody of the Britney Spears song "...Baby One More Time."

Instead of the introductory lines, "Oh baby, baby," Principal Matthew Hawken is heard singing, "Oh, hey there, students. Oh hey, there Spartans."

This is the first year, Matthew Hawken will be serving the school as principal.

He said, "the world is completely upside down especially education so the one thing we need to be able to do right now is laugh."

The song goes on to encourage students to wear their masks and "follow the signs" posted around their school.

"It got pretty much everything in that we were wanting the kids to understand, washing your hands for 20 seconds, stay socially distant, and all that good stuff," Mr. Hawken explained.

The school is one of the few D70 schools to have an in-person option for students. Hawken says 70% of their students decided to return to the building, while the other 30% are staying home.

The song was written by one of Hawken's friends after the board notified the school they would need to create some sort of instructional video.

"That's the task we were given is to make a video for the students, and you know one thing led to another, and here we are, dancing to Britney Spears."

While most students won't remember the catchy tune from the late 1990s, Hawken knows the parents will.