Would you feel awkward living very close to your child's principal?

[Anonymous]

No, because honestly, we're foreigners, one of our children has special needs, we live a different life than most families on our street who are obsessed with sports, so one more thing isn't going to change anything at all, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless they live in a small town I think most teachers and admin deliberately don't live in the same school district they work in. Some do, of course, but most don't. I was support staff for a number of years and had no desire to see those kids outside of school hours even though I loved my job and the kids.

I’m an elementary teacher who loves seeing students around the neighborhood! It feels very charming and sweet. What I don’t love is when my husband is outside cursing at the lawnmower as a parent walks by!! 😳

[Anonymous]

Weird question. Is the principal buying in your neighborhood or are you buying in hers? From the OP, it sounds like the principal is buying in her neighborhood. DMV real estate is HOT, so if the principal found a great house, kudos to her! She can’t be expected to rule out every neighborhood that might have a student. FWIW, we live 1 block away from my kids’ principal. No issue at all—don’t approach when she’s gardening, just wave hello. Don’t corner her about school issues while she’s in her neighborhood and you’ll be just fine.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of the time we thought DC's elementary principal lived nearby because we saw their car with distinctive bumper stickers parked in our neighborhood. We'd say, "Behave or Mr. X will send you to detention!" Turns out he was regularly visiting a teacher. May or may not have been officially separated from wife.

[Anonymous]

Wow, no. I would be thrilled. What a tremendous opportunity to build a relationship with that person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless they live in a small town I think most teachers and admin deliberately don't live in the same school district they work in. Some do, of course, but most don't. I was support staff for a number of years and had no desire to see those kids outside of school hours even though I loved my job and the kids.

I am a teacher who lives directly across the street from the school where I work. I've lived there for ten years and have taught at that school for twelve years. At my school, at least a dozen staff live in the neighborhoods that feed into our school, which means we almost always have students whose parents work at our school. At least 75% of our administrative and instructional staff lives in our county, which is a large district in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

No, because I don't equate a person with their job. When they are home, they are off-duty and they are a person and neighbor who happens to work at the school.

We live walking distance to our school and there are several teachers who live in the neighborhood. It's not awkward for us at all. One of the teachers goes to our church. Another is a realtor and we've seen him listing homes and doing open houses in the neighborhood. They are teachers at school, and we are nice and polite with them when they are out and about and they do the same. We've also seen teachers when out at restaurants and I've occasionally seen one at the supermarket. I say hello and make pleasant small talk and try not to take up too much of their time, just be polite.

I love living in a community where you know people from various walks of life and where the various parts of life overlap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird question. Is the principal buying in your neighborhood or are you buying in hers? From the OP, it sounds like the principal is buying in her neighborhood. DMV real estate is HOT, so if the principal found a great house, kudos to her! She can’t be expected to rule out every neighborhood that might have a student. FWIW, we live 1 block away from my kids’ principal. No issue at all—don’t approach when she’s gardening, just wave hello. Don’t corner her about school issues while she’s in her neighborhood and you’ll be just fine.

OP here.
HS Principal bought a couple houses down from me. Our school districts allow students to transfer to a different high school in the district for specialty programs, so I think having my kid go to a different high school is a good idea. It's actually very common--at least half the high schoolers in our neighborhood (that I know) attend a different high school for the specialty program.

[Anonymous]

It's totally fine. I grew up in the same neighborhood as my ES principal and was good friends with his daughter. My parents were friendly with him and his wife (who taught at my middle school but was never my or my siblings' teacher) and as far as I can remember the parents in our neighborhood just didn't talk about school with them.

[Anonymous]

The high school attendance lady is our neighbor. My kid isn’t getting away with anything.

[Anonymous]

Principal should not be living in the immediate area. Teachers should not either. Not professional of them.

[Anonymous]

I live in a suburb in PA. Our superintendent and other top administrators as well as tons of teachers live in our district. Many principals and assistant principals do too. We only have 6 schools in our district. We are not personal friends with any but others are and I’m sure it was awkward for the superintendent during Covid when his friend group disagreed with some of the decisions the administration made. The wise administrators and teachers live in neighboring towns and their kids attend school in other school districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird question. Is the principal buying in your neighborhood or are you buying in hers? From the OP, it sounds like the principal is buying in her neighborhood. DMV real estate is HOT, so if the principal found a great house, kudos to her! She can’t be expected to rule out every neighborhood that might have a student. FWIW, we live 1 block away from my kids’ principal. No issue at all—don’t approach when she’s gardening, just wave hello. Don’t corner her about school issues while she’s in her neighborhood and you’ll be just fine.

OP here.
HS Principal bought a couple houses down from me. Our school districts allow students to transfer to a different high school in the district for specialty programs, so I think having my kid go to a different high school is a good idea. It's actually very common--at least half the high schoolers in our neighborhood (that I know) attend a different high school for the specialty program.

You are going to make your kid transfer schools because you think it would get awkward to live down the street from your HS principal? Get a grip, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principal should not be living in the immediate area. Teachers should not either. Not professional of them.

My OB-GYN moved down the street from me. Should she move, too?

OP, it's fine When you see him/her just say hi. It's not a big deal. I thought you were going to say they were in elementary school. I barely even remember who my HS principal was and I am 99% sure he would not recognize me either. Nobody cares about this but you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird question. Is the principal buying in your neighborhood or are you buying in hers? From the OP, it sounds like the principal is buying in her neighborhood. DMV real estate is HOT, so if the principal found a great house, kudos to her! She can’t be expected to rule out every neighborhood that might have a student. FWIW, we live 1 block away from my kids’ principal. No issue at all—don’t approach when she’s gardening, just wave hello. Don’t corner her about school issues while she’s in her neighborhood and you’ll be just fine.

OP here.
HS Principal bought a couple houses down from me. Our school districts allow students to transfer to a different high school in the district for specialty programs, so I think having my kid go to a different high school is a good idea. It's actually very common--at least half the high schoolers in our neighborhood (that I know) attend a different high school for the specialty program.

You are going to make your kid transfer schools because you think it would get awkward to live down the street from your HS principal? Get a grip, OP.

There is no "make my kid transfer" in this situation. Like I said, it's VERY common in our district and at least half the kids I know do it. If anything, requiring he go to the school we are zoned for would be "making him" miss out on the opportunity to attend a different specialty program.