ruling the school

Verb

rule the school (third-person singular simple present rules the school, present participle ruling the school, simple past and past participle ruled the school)

1. To substantially control a school administratively, financially, or in terms of its curriculum.
   • After Page, Dr. E. Goodenough ruled the school from 1819 to 1828. On his retirement he obtained the deanery of Wells ...1884, George Augustus Sala with Edmund Hodgson Yates, “Westminster School”, in Temple bar, volume 71, page 504
2. (idiomatic) (of one or a group of students) To socially dominate a school's student population, or a major part of it (such as the girls or the boys).
   • But as Shelley was by far the cleverest of the three head boys who were there, he ruled the school.1847, William Edward Heygate, Godfrey Davenant, page 123