Questions to Ask Your Principal as a Student
For students interviewing their principal for a school paper, a student council meeting or an assembly. Twenty questions about how school decisions actually get made, what students can change, and what the job looks like from the office.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What does a normal day look like for you? Most of us only see you in the hallway.
Why ask it
An easy opener that also produces the most surprising answers, since much of the job is budgets, staffing and phone calls with parents. What they list first tells you what really occupies them.
What made you want to run a school instead of staying in a classroom?
Why ask it
Almost every principal was a teacher first, and the reason they left the classroom usually reveals what they think a school gets wrong when nobody is steering it.
Which decisions here are yours to make, and which come from the district?
Why ask it
This single question saves months of students lobbying the wrong person. Watch for the areas they describe as out of their hands, because those are the ones where a petition will not help.
If a group of students wanted a rule changed, what is the actual process?
Why ask it
You are asking for a procedure, not sympathy. A real answer names who to bring it to, in what form, and when the decision gets made, while a vague one about being open to feedback tells you there is no route.
What is one thing students asked for that you were able to do, and one you could not?
Why ask it
The second half is where the information is. It shows you the constraint, whether it was money, safety rules, staffing or a policy above them, and how honest they are willing to be about limits.
How does the school decide what to spend money on?
Why ask it
Most students assume budgets are a matter of preference. Hearing how much is fixed by staffing and how little is genuinely discretionary changes what students think is worth asking for.
What do you think this school does better than most, and where do we fall short?
Why ask it
The concession matters more than the boast. A principal who can name a real weakness and what they are doing about it is telling you where their attention is going this year.
How should a student bring you a problem so that it gets dealt with?
Why ask it
Email, drop in, through a counselor, through a teacher, in writing. Knowing the preferred channel is the difference between a complaint that gets logged and one that gets forgotten by lunchtime.
If a student reports something serious, who else ends up knowing?
Why ask it
Students stay silent because they cannot predict what happens next. A straight answer about confidentiality, mandatory reporting and who gets told is genuinely useful information to pass on to other students.
How do you decide a consequence when two students tell completely different stories?
Why ask it
This gets at fairness in practice rather than in the handbook. Listen for whether they describe gathering evidence and hearing both sides, or whether it comes down to who is already known to the office.
What support is here for a student who is struggling and does not want to say so out loud?
Why ask it
Answers here range from a named counselor and a quiet referral route to a general statement about our caring community. The first is something you can print, the second is not.
What do you look at when you are judging whether the school is doing well?
Why ask it
Test scores, attendance, suspension numbers, staff turnover, graduation rates. Whichever they name first is what pressure from above is pushing them toward, which explains a lot of decisions students find baffling.
How much of your job is things students never see?
Why ask it
Invites concrete examples: hiring, building maintenance, legal requirements, evaluating teachers. Useful for a school paper because it gives readers the parts of the job that never make it into an assembly.
What is the hardest part of this job that you did not expect?
Why ask it
Phrased as a surprise rather than a complaint, so it is easier to answer honestly. Most principals name something about how far removed they are from actual teaching.
What do teachers here need that they are not getting?
Why ask it
Students rarely think to ask, and the answer usually explains conditions they experience directly, like class sizes, cover arrangements or the age of the equipment.
How do you handle it when a student and a teacher disagree about what happened?
Why ask it
A situation every student has an opinion about. Their answer shows whether staff are backed automatically or whether there is a real process, and it is worth asking for an example.
What are you trying to change about the school this year?
Why ask it
Ties the interview to something checkable rather than general values. Ask what stage the change is at and what would tell them it worked.
What is something about being a student now that you think adults here misjudge?
Why ask it
Gives them room to break from the official line. Answers about phones, workload or the state of friendships tend to be more candid than anything else in the conversation.
What would you tell a student who wants to end up in a job like yours?
Why ask it
You get the route, teaching first, then a leadership qualification, then a deputy role, and an idea of how long it takes. Useful if anyone reading is considering it.
What have you changed your mind about since becoming a principal?
Why ask it
Close with this. It is the hardest question to answer with a script, and the answer often includes an admission about discipline or about how much one adult can control.
Interviewing Your Principal
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Getting the Meeting
Ask through the office, in writing
Email the principal or their assistant with what the interview is for, how long you need, and three of the questions you plan to ask. Fifteen minutes with a stated purpose is far easier to grant than an open request to talk.
Say who will see it
A student paper, a podcast, a council report and a class assignment carry different levels of care. Principals answer more freely when they know the audience, and less freely when they find out afterwards.
Pick a time that is not first thing
Mornings, lunch and the last period of Friday are when problems arrive at the office. Mid morning later in the week gets you a less distracted conversation.
In the Conversation
- Open with the day in the life question. It is easy to answer and sets a conversational tone before anything harder.
- Ask for an example whenever you get a general answer. For instance is the most useful phrase you have.
- When they mention a constraint, ask who does have the power over it. That name is often the real story.
- Do not stack two questions together. Pick the more interesting one and save the other.
- Ask permission before recording, and check any quote you plan to publish by reading it back.
Making It Count
- Write up the answers the same day, while you still remember the tone as well as the words.
- Note any promise with a date attached, then follow up on it later in the year. That follow up is a better story than the original interview.
- Share what you learned about the process with your student council, especially who decides what.
- Send a short thank you note. It makes the second interview much easier to arrange.