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Ten-year-old Nathan Harris went to school Tuesday planning to spend the lunch period running around on the soccer field with his fifth-grade buddies at Davidson Elementary School.

But because Nathan showed up at school on time every day last week, his name was entered into a random drawing along with about 300 other students at a weekly schoolwide assembly.

Just before noon, he was buckling himself into the front of Principal Deborah Anders' white sport utility vehicle for a trip to a nearby sandwich shop.

Nathan, who admitted being a bit scared at the whole prospect of lunch with the woman the kindergartners call "Miss Dr. Anders," initially was partial to shoulder shrugs and head nods.

Because Anders is brand new to the school, near East Fort Lowell Road and North Alvernon Way, the two had never spoken before. The reticence was expected: It's usually the little ones who grab her hand and babble on during the walk to the car, while the bigger students are more nervous.

But by the end of lunch, over tuna and ham sandwiches and apple slices, Anders had learned Nathan has three brothers, rocks in math, is a huge Atlanta Falcons fan and wants to become a police officer.

"It's a great opportunity for me to get to know the students one-on-one," said Anders, who reigns over 365 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Anders started taking students to lunch three years ago when she became principal at Jefferson Park Elementary School in an effort to help the school meet the larger district goal of 95 percent attendance.

At Davidson, so far, the first grade is coming the closest, at 90 percent. The rest of the grades are hovering right below that threshold.

Anders has been known in the past to do even more to encourage attendance, and there are two bicycles in the cafeteria now — donated by the Tucson Downtown Lions Club — that will be offered in a random drawing to students who had perfect attendance all quarter.

Last year, parents who got their kids to school for a three-week block of test preparation and testing were eligible to receive gift cards.

And at her previous school, her blond hair was at various times pink, blue, purple, orange and green after she agreed to submit to spray-on hair paint when the school had 95 percent attendance on a Monday.

She's learned a few things along the way.

First, if you're going to ask schoolkids if there's enough paint on your head, the answer will always be a very loud no.

Second, as she was reminded last week with her first-grade lunch partner, don't schedule the outing on a day when pizza is served in the lunchroom.

Finally, steer the choice in venues. At first, she let them pick where they wanted to go. "Ninety percent of them picked McDonald's," she said.

Unable to take it anymore and armed with the district's mandate to provide healthier choices to students, she started whittling down the possibilities. Subway worked for Jared Fogle and right now, it's working for Davidson.

As for Nathan, he explained that he earned the reward by just getting up early to be sure he's at school every day on time so he can get his work done.

And he's off the hook for the lunch-companion gig from here on out. He'll draw the name of the next winner Tuesday.

Davidson Elementary School was named after Alexander Davidson, a Civil War veteran who served with Union forces and came to Tucson in 1880.

Davidson donated the land for the original school, which held its first classes in 1905 and later triggered a debate about the mingling of church and state.

The smaller building on site was vacated in 1912, when a larger building was constructed. The auditorium served as a church for the Mormon faith.

Dissension grew in the community about its joint use, but the issue was resolved in 1928, when local Mormon faithful erected their own building.

The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted in 2002 to replace the old school after parents blamed their children's illnesses on recurring mold problems there.

The new school was built with money set aside for the old school's renovation combined with nearly $4 million from a developer, who also swapped the new school site to the north for the old Davidson site and two other parcels owned by the district.

Source: TUSD and Star archives