I don’t think I‘ve gone to a school where I ever interacted much with the principal so it’s interesting to see students here pulling this light hearted prank.
These kids are probably not the ones getting in trouble a lot and having to talk to the principal, so I wonder how they built a relationship like this that they wanted to prank him in the first place.
Some principals, especially at smaller schools, make it a point to interact with students as much as possible. The principal doesn't have to be an overlord sitting in a tower.
I would also expect that the principals most likely to want to do this were good teachers before becoming principals, and carried over that care for their students to the new job.
The principal at my son’s school (he’s only in elementary school, but still) knows my son by name, and interacts with him in a way that shows me she knows HIM and not just his name. It’s definitely a smaller school, and I can tell she is well regarded by the students and that she loves being among them. I couldn’t tell you what any of my principals looked like from my school years, let alone their names, but I know my son will know his. They definitely don’t have to be strangers to their students.
My high school principle had a great relationship with his students. We called him Dr.P because his name was long.
It was a medium size outdoor campus in SoCal so he used to skate around on a penny board with students. He knew all the trouble makers by name and regularly tried to talk/check in on them.
He was also very active with the student council so he was close with those students. He would stop and talk to students at lunch and check in with different “groups” sitting around. He went to every football game and hyped it up. I didn’t interact with him much but we all knew when we saw him it was probably going to turn into a joke.
Awesome dude who really cared about students. He retired the year I graduated. Shout out to Dr.P 🙌 you were chill as hell.
My favorite choir teacher became the principal and everyone was excited. He was a great teacher and had a great relationship with his students. 10 years later he gets arrested for CSAM, tried to kill himself but failed, and is now in prison for a very long time. It was a huge surprise.
It was truly a shock. I think part of why there was never any weird vibes from anyone was because he was a high school principal and his preferences were younger. His wife immediately started the divorce proceedings and got the kids away. It appears like she was blind sides too.
If it’s a K-12 school, which is where they get paid well enough to live like this, the kids that are in the principal’s office can be good kids. Any kid with ADHD or autism is sent there as a kid for being a “problem” until a diagnosis is thrown at them. Even kids with learning disorders are sent to principals in private schools.
What's strange to me is I once emailed my principal to ask if me and my friends could have a place during winter formal where we could play our own music. We all liked older music and just wanted to be able to mess around and play DJ. There wasn't really a place, no prob. When we went, he talked to me by name and I was like, "How does he know my name/face??" I don't think I ever talked to him previously. My school had over 2k students and to this day, I have no idea how he recognized me and knew me by my name.
Lol, maybe!! There was a LOT of people and I happened to walk upstairs when he was walking out of the library. (Quiet zone for peeps and picture area.)
I was pretty eccentric, so it might have also been he knew me from the way I dressed...? I used to wear vintage clothes (still do) before other people did, so, maybe he just knew me from that?
I'm a provider that works in a small rural school about once a week. I suspect these kids go to a small school like that. The principal at my school knows every students' name and their family. She knows where they all live because the town is so small. Each grade has 12-15 students and I could see the whole senior class camping in her yard like this.
I had a really good principal and vice principal in high school. I cant remember most of my high school teachers but I remember them. They were definitely present in day to day operations.
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u/Just_to_rebut Aug 22 '26
I don’t think I‘ve gone to a school where I ever interacted much with the principal so it’s interesting to see students here pulling this light hearted prank.
These kids are probably not the ones getting in trouble a lot and having to talk to the principal, so I wonder how they built a relationship like this that they wanted to prank him in the first place.