This paper examines parents' experiences of knowing and being known by others in the rural schools attended by their children. Within a larger phenomenological research project on parents' experiences of standing up for their children at school, the condition of knowing and being known stood out clearly as a function of parental involvement in rural schools. Several interviews were conducted with each of eight parents from five rural families who had been involved in conflict with the school and who were well known and active in their communities. The conflicts between parents and administrators or teachers involved the attempted retention in grade of a dyslexic child with a high IQ, immediate dismissal from the track team of a boy charged with a misdemeanor before any legal processes took place, parents' perception that Black children were receiving less teaching time and attention than White classmates, humiliating remarks about a child made by a coach during gym class, and the suspension of two girls for fighting. Through use of interview summaries and direct quotations, an understanding of the reciprocal knowledge of parents and staff in rural schools is developed in three themes: (1) we know the teachers and principal; (2) whenever a child has a problem at school, it becomes common knowledge in the community; and (3) what happens at school can change relationships between parents and school staff and between parents and their friends in the community, and can interfere with parents' professional association. An appendix describes the research methodology. (SV)