Kia ora e te whānau

The issue of violence at school digs deep for me. 

Not so long ago my Board of Trustees excluded a student for a pattern of harm culminating in a serious violent incident. I could see it coming. I drove home from school that day sad and frustrated. For weeks I had been warning Oranga Tamariki, Police, and the Ministry of Education’s Behaviour Team Psychologist that he was escalating and that, if we were to hold onto him, there needed to be a circuit breaker. I had pleaded for help, but none was forthcoming.

The answer I got when I asked for urgent help from the Ministry was, “suspend him- it is your only option”.

The system does not have the answers for young people in crisis. It is routinely exiting them from school whereupon the merry-go-round of ‘directed’ enrolment engages them back into schooling without the necessary counselling and therapeutic support to heal. The resources offered to support the ‘directed’ enrolment are often woefully insufficient, and with no credible intervention, the young person may also cause harm to other children and staff. It is no surprise that some of these young people go on to experience further suspensions and exclusions. 

Over the past months I have submitted to Ministers Hipkins, Tinetti, and Davis, 680 horrifying real-life examples of violence and harm at school. Thank you for providing these to me.

The response so far has largely been polite acknowledgement but no action yet!

As the Budget draws near, principals are looking for Government to be decisive. We have been crystal clear about the serious nature of the challenges experienced in schooling:

• the teacher who had her fingers broken by a child in a fit of rage; or 

• a report in the media yesterday of a teacher wounded by a student who repeatedly slashed his arm with a saw and now reports that his “mental wellbeing has taken a real hit”; or 

• the child ‘directed’ to enrol in a school having been excluded from her previous school for breaking into the school, drug use, and violence including a serious unprovoked attack on a student. The Ministry offered $2000 IRF and help to fill out an RTLB application. Despite expressing serious concerns about the degree of resourcing provided, the child went on to assault a student in her new school; or 

• the school that had an exodus of students from a class because parents voted with their feet to protect their children from a young person in crisis and harming those around him.

NZPF’s recent call to contest ‘directed enrolments’ is not a call to reject ‘directed enrolments’ but to question the appropriateness of the conditions of the enrolment and the degree of support available to ensure all young people are safe and well supported.

Boards of Trustees have a duty of care to students and staff. Principals must be confident that a young person ‘directed’ to enrol is provided with sufficient resourcing and therapeutic support to enable the safety of themselves and others and the means to heal.

To this end NZPF has sought a legal opinion on the clash between the Ministry’s power to ‘direct’ enrolments in the Education and Training Act where the child’s pattern of behaviour poses a risk to themselves and others, and a Board of Trustees duty to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable as detailed in the Health and Safety in Workplace Act.

The preliminary legal advice is that the need to ensure a safe environment for teachers and students cannot be invalidated by the Education and Training Act and therefore contesting ‘directed’ enrolments is legitimate where there is a mismatch between the nature of the student’s needs, the associated risk, and the degree and type of support provided to the young person and school to ameliorate that risk and help the student resolve their dysfunction.

In fact, on behalf of Boards of Trustees, a challenge in a situation of mismatch between resourcing and risk is not an option for principals, it is a legal obligation.

On behalf of the principals of Aotearoa New Zealand, NZPF is looking to Government to say ‘no’ to Suspensions and Exclusions. NZPF is asking Government for urgent help to provide the alternative pathways within the system and resources to hold complex young people in school and get them the help they need. NZPF is asking the Government to recognise the legal vice principals are caught in and do something about it!

The Government must act. Urgently!

Rauhuia Principals’ Leadership Professional Development Project:  Project Lead Principal (2 positions)
An opportunity to be fully released, to lead the development of a New Zealand national principals’ leadership strategy for two terms, has been created through a partnership between the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and nine Principal organisations (NZPF, SPANZ, Te Akatea, NZAIMS, NZPPA, AISNZ, NZASA, NZCPPA, SEPANZ).  Applicants will be current or recently practising New Zealand principals, with experience and expertise in leadership, professional development, leading new initiatives, research and/or systems change.  The timeframe for this leadership role is May 3, 2021 to October 08, 2021. Applicants will require permission from their Board of Trustees to take up the position.

A full job description and information is available to interested applicants.  Please make enquiries to NZPF, c/o Larraine Biggs, office@nzpf.ac.nz. Applications close on Wednesday 31 March at 4.00 pm.  Please send a Cover Letter, CV, and application form to Perry Rush, President, NZPF, PO Box 25380, Wellington 6146 or perry@nzpf.ac.nz.

NZPF Subscription Renewal Due
Thank you for the huge response over the past few weeks in renewing your 2021 NZPF subscription. The renewal rate has broken all previous records for this time of year! Thank you for showing confidence in your Federation and recognising that together we can be a much stronger voice.

If you haven’t yet processed your subscription please do so now. All principals will have received a communication about subscription with information on how to renew (many have also been sent a reminder). If you didn’t receive the information or you require it again, please email subscriptions@nzpf.ac.nz

Change in Te Akatea Leadership
This past week Myles Ferris, President Te Akatea, indicated he was standing down from his role as President of Te Akatea. Myles is taking up a secondment to the Teaching Council and Ministry of Education. These are exciting opportunities that will greatly support our work in schools.

I want to acknowledge Myles’ outstanding mahi as President of Te Akatea. NZPF has benefited enormously from his friendship and guidance. He is a supremely talented person who carries people with him and as an organisation, NZPF has benefited from the challenges he has posed and the help he has provided to enhance our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He was a strong advocate for a dedicated tumuaki Māori position on the NZPF Executive which was overwhelming endorsed by the membership last year. It will be an enduring legacy for Myles and we thank him for it. Ngā mihi e te rangitira. Kia ihi, kia maru. Ngā mihi.

I also acknowledge Bruce Jepsen as incoming Te Akatea President. NZPF has had the good fortune of having Bruce serve as an NZPF Executive member over the past 15 months. Bruce has been a taonga on our Executive and we are excited for him, for Māori principals, and our profession as he steps up to lead Te Akatea. Ngā mihi e hoa.

Ngā manaakitanga

Perry Rush
perry@nzpf.ac.nz