<p>
Our HS principal, and 2 assistants greeted kids at the door for the first week of school this year. Nice touch. Both the principal and one of the assistants were new this year; the other assistant was new last year. Both the current administration and the past knew both of my kids, primarily because they were actively involved in Student Council (S2 as VP this year). But I do get the sense that the entire administrative team has made an effort to get to know as many students as possible (population 1400+), and not just the leaders and trouble-makers. This is the pervasive culture at our school and has been for the 6 years I’ve been involved with PTO and other activities.</p>
<p>I suspect our principal knew my oldest son by reputation if not by sight. He got a math award (normally awarded to seniors) his sophomore year for the best score in the school on the AMC-12 and he also did very well at Science Olympiad. That said, he was pretty quiet, and I’m not sure he ever said a word to the principal beyond “thank you” when picking up awards at various ceremonies.</p>
<p>As far as I know the principal does not know S2 at all, but I could be mistaken. </p>
<p>Our school is huge - well over 3000 students, so I certainly don’t expect the principal to know every kid by name.</p>
<p>sigh…</p>
<p>2 different high schools (2500+ students and the other 4800 students)
2 different states in 5 years</p>
<p>5 kiddos</p>
<p>yes they knew/know them (ALL of them) on the field, in the classroom, out of school, on tv, in the paper, so yes, yes, yes</p>
<p>on sight, out of sight… voice recognition (see other thread for no volume control kiddo)</p>
<p>by name, by rep (good and BAD and everything in between)</p>
<p>Girls brought smiles, and the boys, well…again good and bad</p>
<p>Phone rings, I wince,
“Hello, kittens’ mom, this is high school B and we have Kitten C and D and they have…”
Good? Bad? Or somewhere in between???</p>
<p>Kat
kittens anyone?</p>
<p>D2 went to a high school that had about 400 kids in grades 9-12 (usually 90-100 kids per grade) in a small town. In a system like this, the principal knows almost all of the kids–trouble makers and achievers. Even the Superintendent of schools knows most of the kids, especially any kid who stands out in some way (academics, sports, drama, music, etc.).</p>
<p>I’m sure our middle-largish public HS principal has no idea who my kids are. DS was surprised when his GC knew him by name when he popped in one day. I see both my kids as self-sufficient and never had a need to consult “administration.” We just made sure that when the GC asked for parental input for recs that we wrote in a very “cut and paste” friendly style. </p>
<p>DS did say the principal’s son was likely to be found drinking pilfered beer behind the baseball field many a Saturday night. If he didn’t know his own kid, I don’t have much of a problem with him not knowing mine…</p>