Principal won't answer question

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in knowing where my son's birthday falls in relation to his classmates. Sent an email to the teacher, who forwarded it the principal, who responded without any information - referring me to student services. Student services won't know the answer to this. I was surprised by the response - Is a principal unable to give information like this? I wasn't asking for names, of course.

[Anonymous]

Did you ask for actual birthdays? I'm not surprised you weren't given this information and I'm kind of glad you weren't. Given a finite number of classmates (let's say 25) and a finite number of birthdates, a person using this information for illegal means can establish identities and social security numbers in a very short time. I know you are well meaning, but this is not information to which you are entitled. Surely there is a better way to find out, by chatting with classmates' parents or via birthday party scheduling.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that the principal could in theory give you this info, but is hesitant to give out kids personal info without a good reason. Why do you want the info? If its more than just idle curiosity tell them the reason and they might be more likely to help you.

[Anonymous]

I asked how many students have birthdays prior to X date. Just the number of students. My reason - wanting to know where my child stands age-wise in the class. Maybe that's considered idle curiosity.

[Anonymous]

Ok, My kindergartner has a bar graph in his class showing when kids have birthdays. no names. I find it interesting that the teacher did not feel comfortable and referred the question. Frankly the schools sounds like something is not going well between principal and staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked how many students have birthdays prior to X date. Just the number of students. My reason - wanting to know where my child stands age-wise in the class. Maybe that's considered idle curiosity.

And you're wasting their time. The school staff aren't there to satisfy your curiousity. I can think of no legitimate need you would have for that information.

[Anonymous]

I don't really think it is any of your business. Perhaps the principal has never been asked for this info before and isn't sure how to answer it. FYI- If this is public school, it doesn't matter at all the ages and birthdates of the classmates. Students are measured against certain standards and benchmarks. It doesn't matter if you are talking about a nearly 8 year old first grader or one that hasn't even turned 7 yet. Some classrooms have birthday charts on the wall but you might not know if the spring/summer bdays are a year older or not.

[Anonymous]

The teacher and principal were smart to not give you this info. There is no need to compare children. Just ask the teacher how your child is doing in school.

[Anonymous]

Wow..I asked bdays the month of my dd so I could coordinate with other parents on bdays ie so no overlap on parties. I got the info right away and we managed to avoid any delicate overlap.

[Anonymous]

The op wants years as well as months. She's concerned about red shirting.

[Anonymous]

Probably an inappropriate use of staff time to research that for you.

[Anonymous]

"Probably an inappropriate use of staff time to research that for you. "

I can't imagine it would have taken longer than 5 to 10 minutes to look at the bdays the teacher had a list of and say if about 1/2 the class vs. 1/4 of it (or whatever) was older than the child. I doubt the mom would have come back to ask "yes, but what are the exact dates???". Seems like an overly bureaucratic reply by the school.

[Anonymous]

My initial question was to the teacher and I thought it was a quick question since there are 20 students. Really didn't intend to involve the principal's time. I didn't ask for birthdates - just the number of students born before X date. I work in a private school and names, pictures, and birthdates are published and distributed to the entire school each year. So, I'm not sure it's so confidential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm interested in knowing where my son's birthday falls in relation to his classmates. Sent an email to the teacher, who forwarded it the principal, who responded without any information - referring me to student services. Student services won't know the answer to this. I was surprised by the response - Is a principal unable to give information like this? I wasn't asking for names, of course.

Every class in young elementary my kids have been in have posted all the kids' birthdays on a poster somewhere in the classroom. Do you never visit the classroom?

Just curious why you feel entitled to this information, anyway, and why your nose is bent out of shape b/c the principal has better things to do with her time than indulge this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm interested in knowing where my son's birthday falls in relation to his classmates. Sent an email to the teacher, who forwarded it the principal, who responded without any information - referring me to student services. Student services won't know the answer to this. I was surprised by the response - Is a principal unable to give information like this? I wasn't asking for names, of course.

Why, precisely, do you want to know this, anyway?