<p>I agree with NSM, post #7.</p>
<p>My kid went to a small hs - ~125 in his class. Of course, the prinicipal knew him. It’s a small school; he knows everyone; and I was active in Parent Association.</p>
<p>Didn’t matter. The principal certainly didn’t know my S as well as some of his teachers. Those are the important ones. Good teacher recs, GC rec… those are what are important.</p>
<p>I’m the student… But until this year our school has had ~3200 (due to a new high school being completed this year there’s only ~2800), and our principal certinly doesn’t know me or my sister who also goes to my high school. In large schools the principal is too busy to know people (as well, how could you possibly remember that many people).</p>
<p>Our principal definitely knows my son, because he’s the co-president of the student council. During the time he has been in high school, he has had three different principals, so my son has had to make a point of introducing himself to administrators. Yes, it does help if you are at a small school. Ours has just 292 kids.</p>
<p>The principals all know my kids because they go to a small school (800 kids) and because their dad and their uncle teach at the school. My kids could never fly under the radar because the “it takes a village” really applies to them. We routinely hear from fellow teachers and other kids about my kids’ activities. Plus my husband is good friends with the middle school principal and the golf together regularly, so my younger son knows his principal first as his Dad’s friend, second as his principal!</p>
<p>However, I would say that almost everyone knows everyone at my sons’ school. It’s an all-boys catholic school and generations go there, lots of big and little brothers there…so everyone knows everyone.</p>
<p>Next year my son goes to a 2000+ public highschool. I wonder if anyone will know him?</p>
<p>The principle knew my daughter because she was close friends with his son !</p>
<p>Looks like I have a lot of company here. D is in the top 5 of her class, involved in several activities and behaves herself, so of course the principal has no idea who she is. She has great relationships with her GC and all of her teachers. And yes the principal does know me.</p>
<p>Back when D was in elementary school, I was a member of the PTA board under both principals. Neither one had a clue who she was. Both knew S, but he has gotten into trouble with his big mouth.</p>
<p>My son’s school has about 1100 students, he knows the administrators well and interacts with them regularly. I am impressed by how the principal seems to know most of the students. The vice principals are very actively involved and seem to know everyone as well.</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, S’ principal seemed to know everyone in a high school of 1000 students. The principal only knows me and H because we have introduced ourselves to the him when we’ve seen him at events or happened to run into him outside of the school setting. I never volunteered at the school, S was never in trouble-ever. Our S was just a very outgoing, well-known student at his school.</p>
<p>We live in a small city in Michigan. Maybe it just the way our school district is. We also knew many of his teachers.</p>
<p>I have introduced myself to the principal on several occassions. When my daughter was a freshman she was assigned a locker with racial epithets scrawled on it. I called the school, spoke with the principal and he acted immediately to remove them before school started. I saw him soon after and thanked him. About a month later I attended a PTA event about alcohol use at the school and asked about what parents should do if they hear of a party in the works that was going to be serving alcohol. I spoke with the principal afterwards, told him my kid’s names, and asked another question. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can’t attend most of the PTA meetings. I have a long standing commitment on the nights of the meetings. </p>
<p>Another question. In the past, the principal would welcome guest to the school concerts and musicals, making introductory remarks and praise for the students involved. In two years, the first time I saw the prinicipal was at a concert two weeks ago. He bolted after he did his duty. Do your principals attend school concerts?</p>
<p>My kids’ h.s. has about 1500 kids. The principal does attend school concerts.</p>
<p>When she started h.s., I had thought there would be no particular reason for my D to know the principal (under the theory that if she stayed out of trouble she wouldn’t really cross paths with him) and that she could be under the radar, but she ended up being senior class president during a year that there were a lot of projects going on that year at school that she needed to work with him on, so he did get to know her pretty well.</p>
<p>I went to a high school of about 950. Yes, the principal knew me. Both assistant principals that were at the school during my 4 years knew me.</p>
<p>I wasn’t ever in trouble; I was at one time friends with the principal’s son and a teammate throughout high school. I knew the first assistant principal because he was also a football coach my freshmen and sophomore years before he moved. I’m not really sure how I got to know the second one, but I used to talk to him all the time. Really, I’d stand there at lunch or at sporting events, etc and talk to all three of them.</p>
<p>If I would have needed it, I am sure without a doubt, any of the three of them could have written me a letter of recommendation and would have in an instant.</p>
<p>The principal knows my D, of course. She seems to uncannily know the names of almost every child in the school, and I appreciate her presence, inspiration, and dedication. I believe she knows my D because D plays a rather unusual instrument and when the principal needed a trio to play music before her sn’s wedding ceremony, she hired D and two friends to play some quiet classical music for 45 minutes before and after. And paid them handsomely, I might add.</p>
<p>My S goes to a school with a population of about 1400 students and the principal does know my son. My son says he met him when he and a friend were walking through the school after a sports camp. The Athletic Director just asked the guys if they wanted to meet the new principal. Two years later the principal still acknowledges my S when he sees him and recently nominated him for a local award.
Both guys like the principal and say he is generally well regarded at the school.</p>
<p>The principal most definitely does not know my DS, for that matter I’m fairly sure his guidance counselor has no idea who he is though both DS and I have met him several times. He’s one of 4,700, but even as a good student and NM Commended he doesn’t register a blip on their radar. One of the downsides of attending a massive and highly competitive public school.</p>
<p>Son’s GC sent him to principal because he was so proud of him for getting into a very selective world wide program. Principal said “that’s nice.” Totally did not get it or care to. My son laughed it off. Don’t know how GC reacted. School about 1200 kids and he was a senior by then.</p>
<p>I’m so impressed with the majority of the staff at my kid’s school. The guidance counselors are incredibly overworked, yet they know my son well and have gone out of their way to help him pursue some out-of-school interests. When I phone in an absence (which isn’t very often), the office staff always immediately knows who my kid is. The principal, who knows my son well, is extremely involved with the kids. I was at a meeting where he commented that he was looking over the list of kids taking honors classes and how he knew most of them. His point was that the kids who take honors are the most involved in the school, but I think it also showed the depth of his involvement.</p>
<p>Sounds like quite a range of principal involvement with kids. When we call in for an absence, we get an automated message prompting us to leave all the pertinent information.</p>
<p>I work in an elementary school and the prinicpal greets the kids at the door each morning. I think that is a special touch. Too bad this is lost at the high school level. </p>
<p>So it makes me wonder what prinicpals do all day. It seems the assistant principal and the Dean of Students handle discipline.</p>
<p>Both DD and DS were known by the principal at their high school (about 200 students per grade). But DD worked in the office, and DS frequently did high profile music things at the school. But to be honest, they were also known by the superintendent of schools for the same reasons.</p>
<p>I"m sure the principal doesn’t know my daughters’ names. There are 2000 kids in their school, so I’d be amazed if he did. I suspect he knows the superstars and the problem children the best. </p>
<p>Honestly, while it’d be a nice touch if he knew everybody, I’d rather he be effectively managing the school and hiring the best teachers than that he spend a lot of time glad-handing with every student. The <em>teachers</em> know their names, and that’s the important thing.</p>
<p>Not only did the principal not know S1, the GC had no idea who he was either. S was a top ten student and has the kind of personality that all the teachers knew him.<br>
When he took in a form from one of his college apps. to be filled out by the GC, the GC w looked at his class rank/ SAT score and wrote “outstanding student”. That was his total GC req. for a college app!</p>