In most districts, the principal is many things – an annoyance to those who are often in and out of the Attendance Office, the figurehead of the school who is constantly buried in their work.

A stereotype that does not come to mind – an open human being that is willing to talk to their students about their concerns.

Once a month, Principal Mary Alice Finn hosts a “Pizza With the Principal,” where students can skip the lunch line and head down to Conference Room Two for free pizza. Students who have a concern or thought can come to Mrs. Finn directly to express said thought.

One of the topics brought up in this meeting was student parking. Mrs. Finn directly responded to this firmly. “Students cannot park on campus because this is a safety issue. Access to campus is limited to ensure safety,” she said on the Pizza with the Principal Google classroom.

Another topic brought up was the Week of Welcome that took place at the beginning of the year. The majority of  the students said that the “Escape the Vape” section was pointless, and it wasn’t assertive enough. It didn’t help that the “smoker table,” was making inappropriate jokes and comments about vaping to derail the whole conversation. Solutions offered were as follows: the speaker needed to be more aggressive, not wishy-washy, and a smaller group setting would have benefitted the whole thing. The students were fans of the guest speaker.

As for participation, students felt it was too early in the year to start that, and that maybe a week later would have helped boost participation. One student commented that “Start with Hello Week” was “creative, but it lacked participation,” The same sentiment was shared about Back to School Night.

Demerits are a completely different and new development for TUHS, so of course there were many questions about it, including “Where are these stored? How do we look them up? Where do I stand with my demerits? How do teachers/parents see demerits?” Each question was answered.

Other questions were asked in regard to Powderpuff, and the “Say Something” app. The purpose of this gathering was to promote communication between the principal and her students. It seems as if she genuinely cares about the concerns of the students, and we are lucky for it to be that way.