Getting to Know Mr. Kneller

DANIEL GRAY, Contributing Writer

I interviewed the principal, Mr. Kneller. I was curious about what had inspired him to work as a principal at this school. I found out a lot of information including why he wanted to work here, what the most difficult part of his job is, and what his previous goals were.

The conversation started with him saying, “After high school, I did not think I was going to be a teacher. I initially majored in communications. I thought I wanted to go into radio or TV. I realized that there were a lot of people who majored in communications, and I changed my major to history.” He continued talking about his career after college, saying, “In 2002, I started teaching here, and I was a social studies teacher for a few years. Then, in 2008, I actually left for a few years because I wanted to become an administrator.”

Continuing the conversation, he stated, “I worked in another school district, and then I always wanted to come back to North Brunswick because it’s always been a special place for me.” He continued touching on this topic by stating, “I left to become a vice principal in another school district.” He also said, “I came back, and I was an assistant principal for three years. Then, when the last principal retired in 2017, I decided that I wanted to be the principal because I thought I could lead this building.”

The next question asked was whether he was planning to teach at any other North Brunswick schools. He found this interesting and said, “I like high school students because I feel like you can have real conversations with them about the real world.” He continued by saying, “There’s an end game, which is graduation. We’re preparing you for college, so that’s what I really like about being a high school principal.”

Then, I decided to ask him what his biggest challenge is. He said, “I think the biggest challenge is that it’s a pretty big school, so there are a lot of students and a lot of staff members, with all different personalities.” I continued the conversation by asking if watching all the students was the most difficult part, and he said, “No, it’s not difficult. It’s just that everyone has different things that are important to them, and everyone has different concerns. So it’s hard to manage all of that.”

Ultimately, this interview teaches us quite a lot, from his original major to the most difficult challenge he faces here in North Brunswick.