New Zealand Teachers Bullied at School

LPHS has a new Board of Trustees it will be interesting to see if they are able to solve the problems of mismanagement identified in the last BOT. They will need to pay specific attention to issues of conflicts of interest and honesty on the part of senior management at the school.  The new Board is:

Ruth Barnett

Brian Derrett

Sarah Derrett

Alex King

Caroline Rickerby

And I wish them well and hope this signals a new era at the school but I will be reserving judgement as I have no idea what skills they bring to the table but I do hope this is a positive change.

Alex King was part of the previous BOT and I have some nervousness surrounding his presence, his Partner (wife?) is Francine Vella the sports coordinator and as there have been some issues surrounding the “HOD Physical Education” and the Physical Education Dept as a whole it would be a reasonable question for anyone applying for the currently vacant position to ask if someone else is going have greater direct access to senior administration than they will have. I would be extremely cautious given the performance of past boards. I’m not sure that nepotism is an issue at the school but it is worth watching to many careers have been destroyed in this environment for any issues involving the management here to be taken lightly.    

Any System of administration must be judged on the on the worst case scenarios it allows to exist. Clearly Tomorrows Schools is open to abuse and there is no will on the part of the Education Review Office (ERO), the Ministry of Education or the Minister of Education Anne Tolley to address any of its failings or to address bullying in the workplace.  It is time for at least a ministerial review or have things got so off balance we need a public inquiry and some heads to roll? I for one favour the latter.

Filed under: LPHS, Minedu, Minister, Questions | Tagged: Bullied, bully, Bullying of Teachers by Management and Boards (LPHS), Logan Park High School, New Zealand, NZ, Workplace