Funny Questions to Ask Your Principal

Q: Can you ask your principal about the school rules?

Yes, and Rules and why is written for it: which rule students ask about most, who writes the rules, how a student could get one changed. The questions ask for reasons and argue with no rule.

All 80 questions

Funny ones 24

Can you still do a cartwheel, and when did you last try? At field day. I got a round of polite applause.
Do you have a favorite hallway, and what makes it better than the rest? The one by the art room. It smells like paint.
Have you ever gotten lost in your own school? The first week. I found the boiler room three times.
How long has the oldest thing in the lost and found been waiting? A trombone case has been there since before I arrived.
How many keys are on your key ring, and do you know what they all open? Twenty-two. I can vouch for nine.
If the school had a pet, what should it be? A tortoise. Calm, and it would never run in the halls.
If you could add one room to the school, what would it be? A nap room. For the adults.
Were you ever sent to the principal's office yourself? In fourth grade, for trading my homework for a dessert.
What do teachers really talk about in the staff room? Mostly who took the last of the coffee.
What do you do in your office when the door is closed? Answer email and eat lunch at two in the afternoon.
What do you do when you get the giggles in an assembly? Look at the floor and think about spreadsheets.
What do you think students imagine you do after the last bus leaves? Turn off every light myself, one by one. I do not.
What does your own voice sound like to you over the loudspeaker? Like my aunt reading a bus timetable.
What is really in the desk drawer in your office? Confiscated bouncy balls and an emergency sandwich.
What is the funniest note a student has left on your door? "Please make Monday shorter."
What is the funniest thing ever said over the morning announcements by mistake? I once wished everyone a happy Friday on a Wednesday.
What is the oddest reason a student has given for being late? "My shoes were arguing."
What is the silliest thing you have worn for a spirit day? A full banana costume. I led the lunch line in it.
What would happen if you swapped jobs with a kindergartner for a day? Longer recess, and every meeting would end with a snack.
What would you put on the lunch menu if nobody could say no? Breakfast. Pancakes at noon for everyone.
Which cafeteria lunch do you secretly look forward to? Pizza day. I am not above it.
Which school rule would you most like to break, just once? No running in the halls. They are so long and so empty at five.
Which sound in the building do you hear in your sleep? The bell. Four notes, all day, all night.
Who would win a kickball game between the staff and the students, honestly? The students, and it would not be close.

The job and the school day 14

How do you learn the names of all the students? Photos in August, and standing at the door every morning.
How is being a principal different from being a teacher? A teacher knows one class deeply. I know a little about everyone.
How many times a day does someone knock on your office door? I stopped counting at thirty.
What do you do at school before the first bus pulls in? Walk every hallway and switch on the lights.
What do you do in the summer when the building is empty? Schedules, hiring, and watching the floors get waxed.
What do you write the morning announcements on, and who helps? An index card. Two fifth graders read the lunch menu.
What does a principal do while classes are going on? Visit classrooms, answer phones, and solve whatever came up at eight.
What is the best part of a normal Tuesday? Reading to a first-grade class for ten minutes.
What is the last thing you do before you go home? Check that tomorrow's substitute plans are on the right desks.
What part of your job would students never guess? Bus routes. I know every one.
Where are you during lunch and recess? In the cafeteria with a walkie-talkie, opening milk cartons.
Which meeting on your calendar do you actually enjoy? The student council. They bring an agenda and snacks.
Who decides when school closes for bad weather, and how do you find out? The district office, and my phone rings very early.
Who do you talk to most in a day: students, teachers or parents? Students before nine, teachers at lunch, parents after three.

Rules and why 12

How do you decide what is fair when two students tell different stories? I listen to each alone, then to anyone who saw it.
How would a student go about getting a rule changed? Write it down, take it to the student council, and bring a reason.
Is there a rule you wish the school did not need? Any of them. I would rather just say "be kind."
What happens in your office when someone is sent to see you? We talk about what happened, then about what comes next.
What is one rule for the adults in the building that students do not know about? Teachers sign in every morning, the same as visitors.
What is the reason behind a rule that students think is unfair? One-way stairs. Try them at the bell without it.
What rule did your own school have that would seem strange today? No pens until fourth grade. Pencil only.
Which rule do you find hardest to follow yourself? No food outside the cafeteria. My desk is the evidence.
Which rule have you added or removed since you came here? We dropped silent lunch. The cafeteria is louder and happier.
Which rule looks after something students might not think about? Closing doors behind you. It keeps the heat in all winter.
Which school rule do students ask you about most? Hats. Always hats.
Who writes the school rules, and can they be changed? Some come from the district. Ours, we look at again every summer.

When they were a student 14

What did you bring for lunch most days as a child? A peanut butter sandwich and an apple I traded away.
What did you want to be before you thought of working in a school? A bus driver, then a marine biologist.
What did your school have that ours does not? A chalkboard in every room, and not one computer.
What is the best thing a teacher ever wrote on your work? "You were thinking here. Keep going."
What kind of student were you at our age? Chatty. My report cards all said so.
What was your first job in a school? Teaching sixth-grade science in a room with no windows.
What was your own principal like, and were you afraid of them? A tall man with a quiet voice. Terrified, for no reason.
What went wrong on your first day as a teacher? I wrote my name on the board and spelled it wrong.
What would your younger self say about the job you have now? "You are in charge of recess? Make it longer."
When did you first think about becoming a principal? When my own principal let me run a staff meeting.
Which book did you read over and over as a child? One about a lighthouse keeper. The cover fell off.
Which recess game were you best at, and which did you avoid? Four square, every day. I stayed away from dodgeball.
Which subject gave you the most trouble in school? Long division. I still do it slowly.
Which teacher did you try hardest to impress, and how? My music teacher. I practiced the recorder until the dog left the room.

For the school paper 16

How do you choose which clubs and activities the school offers? Students ask, a teacher volunteers, and we find a room.
How do you measure whether a school year went well? By who is smiling in June, and who reads better than in September.
How do you want students to bring problems to you? In person, in writing, or through the box by the office.
What can students do to make the school better this month? Learn the name of one person they do not know yet.
What change at the school are you proudest of? The garden behind the gym. Students built the beds.
What do you look for when you hire a teacher? Someone who talks about students before they talk about lessons.
What do you read to keep up with your own job? Research on reading, and every issue of this paper.
What do you say to a student who does not like school? Tell me one thing you would change. Then we start there.
What do you want new students to know on their first day? Where the office is, and that the door is open.
What have students taught you this year? That the back stairs are faster, and that I talk too long at assemblies.
What is coming next year that our readers should know about? New lockers, and a later start on Wednesdays.
What is one goal you have for the school this year? Every student reading something they chose, every day.
What is the hardest decision you had to make this year? Moving the lunch times. Nobody loved it, and the lines are shorter.
What may we print as your message to the whole school? "Be on time, be kind, and return your library books."
What would you do with the school if money were no limit? A bigger library, and a roof that does not drip on it.
Which tradition at this school should never end? The fifth-grade walk through the halls on the last day.

How it works

These funny questions to ask your principal start in the office: the desk drawer, the key ring, the lost and found. Four more groups ask about the school day, the rules, the principal's own school years and the school paper.

Read the full guide

Questions to ask a principal about their job

The job and the school day follows the principal from before the first bus pulls in to the last thing they do before going home. Rules and why asks who writes a rule and how a student could get one changed.

Questions and answers

What are fun questions to ask your principal?

Ones about the life students never see: what is really in the desk drawer, how many keys are on the key ring, whether the principal was ever sent to the office as a child.

What are good questions to ask a principal for a class interview?

Open with a funny one, then ask about the day: who the principal talks to most, where they are during lunch and recess, what part of the job students would never guess. End with the message to the whole school.

Can you ask your principal about the school rules?

Yes, and Rules and why is written for it: which rule students ask about most, who writes the rules, how a student could get one changed. The questions ask for reasons and argue with no rule.

What should you not ask a principal?

Anything private about another student, a punishment someone received, or the principal's pay and home. None of the 80 questions goes there.

Notes

Every card on this page was written to be read aloud in front of children and grandparents: nothing sexual, no alcohol or drugs, no bullying and nothing that singles out a group of people. If a card misses that mark, please tell us through the contact page and we will remove it.

More notes about this page

Cards and picks are random and meant for fun. Skip any card that does not suit your group; the host's call is final.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-09: 80 questions to ask a school principal, in 5 groups, each with one invented example answer that describes no real school. Own work; these are our suggestions and nothing was copied from another site. No question asks for anything private about another student, about a punishment, or what a principal earns or where they live, and no example answer states a fact about school law or policy. Licence: own work