The rift that tore a town in two
Workplace rows happen, they are a part of life.
Sometimes colleagues get caught in the crosshairs, but seldom does an entire community get dragged in.
Ask anyone in Rai Valley, Marlborough, and they know of the decade-long rift at the local school – although not everyone is sure of the details.
Back in 2006, former Rai Valley Area School principal Loretta ‘‘Muff’’ Newton and former librarian Faye Leov clashed over who controlled the school library.
Six years later, Leov had been fired, Newton had resigned and a defamation case was in the works.
At the centre of that case; a letter sent to the rural community full of Leov’s complaints about Newton.
Justice David Collins said he hoped the nine-day trial, which wrapped up last month, would bring closure to the community, but many residents said it just brought back memories of a dark patch in their history.
Most people interviewed did not want their comments made public, adding it would be hard to live in the tight-knit community, between Blenheim and Nelson, after commenting on such a divisive issue.
But former student Janelle Cadwallader no longer lives in Rai Valley. She said the trial had not brought her any sort of closure.
‘‘I think it’s just brought stuff up again that should have stayed in the past. [Newton and Leov] should have just moved on with their lives.’’
Cadwallader, 21, said she liked both Newton and Leov, but could not believe how ‘‘big’’ the conflict became.
She was a teenager when the women left the school and heard plenty of rumours, she said.
‘‘People were gossiping about the school going downhill. Not many people talked about what actually happened between the women but it definitely divided the community. People were taking sides because they didn’t like one or the other.’’
Cadwallader said the conflict ‘‘ruined’’ her education, as several teachers resigned and her learning suffered under a rotating door of relief teachers.
‘‘It was really emotional for me because I got on well with my teachers especially because I grew up with them, and I knew they would have helped me learn but they kept leaving.
‘‘I think it was a tense environment for the teachers to work in and a big number of students actually left because of it. One of my good friends left to go to a bigger school.’’
Cadwallader moved to the North Island after graduating. She would not have spoken out if she still lived in Rai Valley, but no-one had described the impact on students, she said.
‘‘My education was destroyed because of a stupid dispute. I think my whole school experience helped to make me who I amtoday. And I’m not that smart, my maths and English is terrible.
‘‘There has already been a few people against me for speaking about it. It’s a small community and everyone knows everyone, and everyone is going to talk about everyone.’’
In an email from her law firm, Leov said she was deeply saddened by the idea students were affected by the conflict.
‘‘That certainly was the last thing that I would have ever wanted. I amvery sorry to hear that children attending the school feel their English and maths skills have suffered.
‘‘Clearly this was a situation that arose from a set of circumstances beyond my control and resulted in me leaving the school on sick leave in 2008.’’
Newton was approached but declined to comment.
Justice Collins said the full public gallery at the trial showed the extent of the ‘‘harm and damage caused to the community’’ by the feud.
Several residents drove the hour’s journey to the Blenheim District Court every day to hear how the letter from Leov, her husband Bernard and Dunedinbased writer Sue Dunn had attacked the reputation of the former principal.
Dunn sent the letter to 50 residents to convince them to be interviewed for a book she was writing about the conflict in 2012.
Justice Collins ruled in favour of Newton after the trial, and ordered the Leovs to issue a public apology. If they didn’t, they would have to pay Newton $100,000 in damages.
The Leovs were still deciding whether to appeal the decision. The deadline was September 26.
Former student Amber Huntley heard all about the defamation claim at the time, but gossip in the town went quiet until the trial started, she said.
‘‘I’d completely forgotten about it to be honest. The fact that it’s been years since it all happened, you do wonder if it was worth bringing it all up again.’’
Huntley, 18, started at the school in 2009, a year after Leov was fired and two years before Newton quit.
She was aware of tension in the school even as a child, she said.
‘‘I knew there was something that had happened but it never really affected me. The teachers were really careful about not letting it affect us.’’
Rai Valley mother-of-two Bernette Martin had a child at the school when the conflict occurred.
She remembered parents gossiping about it when they arrived to pick up their children after school, she said.
‘‘You’d go to pick up your kid and people would be talking about Faye Leov. I didn’t really understand what it was all about, you were just hearing bits here and there. I’d read a bit about it in the newspapers.’’
That gossip peaked when the board was dismissed and Claudia Wysocki stepped in as school commissioner, appointed by Education Minister Anne Tolley, several months before Newton resigned after extended sick leave.
‘‘It was a big thing, being taken over by the commissioner. It was huge,’’ Martin said.
‘‘And there was a bit of tension when Miss Newton left. You could feel it, that things were bad at the school, just from the way people were talking about it.’’
The school seemed to be moving forward in strides since Newton left and interim acting principal Tony Draaijer was appointed, Martin said.
‘‘Everyone was so happy to have Mr Draaijer there to get the school running back on track. He was awesome and the school has just gone forward so much since.’’
One couple, who did not want to be named, said while the gossip about Newton and Leov had died down, the conflict seemed to have affected how the community interacted with the school.
The parents had visited the school to raise concerns about their child’s schooling, but other parents seemed to be afraid to bring problems to the school’s attention.
That reluctance could be a relic of a time when tensions at the school were high – parents did not want to rock the boat, the couple said.
And the library, where the conflict began, was not worth the drama it caused, they said.
Current principal Angela Sloane said she could not comment on what happened at the school during Newton’s career, but the school had moved forward since she took over from Draaijer five years ago.
‘‘We’ve had some excellent NCEA results, we have fabulous teachers and we have wonderful children.
‘‘The teachers we have now have been here for years, and they have put their heart and soul in to ensure students have the best opportunities possible.’’