Commissioner steps in at school

Ministry taking control after parents, principal clash

Acommissioner is taking control at troubled Henderson Valley School after a group of parents rebelled against the principal.

Ministry of Education deputy secretary Katrina Casey said the west Auckland school’s board of trustees “requested ministry support due to the breakdown in relationships between trustees that has caused dysfunction in the operation of the school board”.

Terry Bates, the founding principal of Southern Cross Campus in Mangere and later chief of global consulting firm Cognition Education, has been appointed as commissioner.

Just over a month ago the parents of 37 children, a tenth of the students, wrote an open letter asking the school board to either set up a “mentor/

We are optimistic and look forward to working with the . . . commissioner.

supervision process” for Janet Moyle “or take steps to seek a suitable replacement”.

The letter said concerns included “a steady increase in bullying”, high staff turnover, unsanitary toilets, reduced sports and school trips, and making parent volunteers feel like slaves.

However, another group of parents gathered signatures at the school gates for a petition supporting Moyle.

One parent told the Herald some parents are now “too scared to go to the school” and several will send their children elsewhere next year.

The parents who wrote the letter said in a statement yesterday that they were “happy to have seen some recent progress and actions based on our feedback . . . We are optimistic and look forward to working with the . . . commissioner.”

Board chairman Michael Alofa referred questions to Bates, who said it was too soon to say what had gone wrong. “I’ve only been in the school for 24 hours.”

“My job at the moment is in the first instance to take over the functions of the board and to make my own assessment of the situation. That is going to take a little while.”

He said Moyle remained in her job as principal. He told parents in a newsletter yesterday that he will report to parents in the middle of next term.

All state schools are due to hold three-yearly elections for boards next year, with nominations closing on May 24 and elections on June 7.

Protesting parents