Celebrated primary school divided over principal
Local families’ commitment halted West Spreydon School’s dwindling roll and turned it into the pride of the community. So why is the school community so divided over its principal?
The principal of a celebrated Christchurch primary school is accused of ruling through fear by a dozen staff members who cite incidents over many years - but others say the principal was “the best thing” to happen to the school.
Twelve former staff from Te Ara Koropiko West Spreydon School have spoken to The Press of their experiences working under principal Marriene Langton, who they say intimidated, shouted at and belittled them, sometimes in front of pupils.
Some have also reported that extra duties and responsibilities - which come with extra pay - were assigned as a way of rewarding or punishing individual teachers.
The staff members also said Langton fought hard to represent the school, was able to fundraise money to help with the school’s post-quake rebuild and gave the teachers good professional development opportunities.
However, they said they left the school because of what they described as a toxic culture which made them question their ability to do their jobs, at times reduced them to tears and in some cases impacted their mental health.
Some reported seeing pupils bullied. Shirley Haynes, who worked at the school for more than 15 years, said she heard Langton tell a pupil that she stank. “Did you wash your bottom? Did you change your undies? You need to do that because you stink,” she recalled Langton saying in front of other staff and students. Another teacher broke down as she recalled Langton berating a child with learning difficulties. She said the child had called out an answer, rather than putting his hand up. Langton shouted at him until he was crying and trembling.
“I spent the rest of the session telling him that he had really done nothing wrong, that he was a good child,” she said. The Press understands Langton is well liked by some parents and staff and has been instrumental in introducing programmes to help the most vulnerable students and families in the school community. “Marriene's leadership and contribution to the school over the last 15 years has been well supported and documented through numerous avenues such as our ERO reports,” the school board of trustees said in a statement.
Simon Harrison, who served on the board between 2018 and 2020, said he was shocked to hear the allegations as he did not have a bad word to say about her.
“I’ve got 100% nothing but praise for her.” Harrison said all four of his children went to West Spreydon School, three of them during Langton’s tenure, and her arrival was “the best thing for the school”.
The builder joined the board to bring some professional expertise to the table while the school was being rebuilt. He said he got to understand the school from a whole new perspective.
“From my time on the board, I found all the dealings with her were amazing... Her people skills are amazing,.”
He said he never saw Langton acting untoward with staff, parents or students.
The school gained publicity for rebuilding its pool twice - right before and then after the Canterbury earthquakes - and its voluntary effort to build a giant new playground - largely led by board chairperson Duane Major, who made national headlines leading the Buy the Beach campaign.
The school’s roll rose year on year between 2010 and 2018, though has declined slightly since then, while its rebuild took place and pupils learned off-site.
A staff divided
Former deputy principal (DP) Suzanne Williams, who had worked at the school since 1988, said she took early retirement because of the way she was treated.
“I was DP there so I had a position of responsibility, but each one of my decisions was questioned and I felt torn to shreds.”
Williams said that as she became “less flavour of the month”, she was gradually relieved of her management duties (units) without consultation.
Rose Rankin is a veteran of West Spreydon School, having sat on the board for nine years and worked as a resource teacher of literacy based at the school for 15 years. She retired in 2022.
Rankin was there when Langton took over as principal in 2008 and said the difficulties started almost immediately. She said issues - such as having her competency and confidentiality questioned, and being intimidated and isolated - bubbled away for four years. Rankin remembered being berated during an appraisal session.
“It was pretty nasty, pretty loud and horrible... It was very, very stressful. Very humiliating. I questioned myself as to why this was happening to me because as I said it had never happened before,” she said. Things came to a head in 2012 when the school board sent a letter to the Ministry of Education asking for Rankin to be relocated to a different school because of “a dysfunctional relationship between Rose and the principal”.
The union got involved, said the school had not acted in good faith and several rounds of mediation were held.
The union, NZEI, told The Press it did not comment on individual matters.
“I personally felt dread going into the school, having to go there to my office. Sometimes if I drove into the school and saw the principal's car in the car park, I would leave because I got too stressed,” Rankin said. The retiree said she would often work out of the local library and return to the school after hours because she didn’t feel safe there.
She said other staff members aware of her difficulties would come to her for support. “We had many coffee meetings... In my office there were very distraught people often in tears, not knowing where to turn,” she said.
One of those teachers was Georgia Banks, who started at West Spreydon School as a beginner teacher in 2018.
She worked as a year 3 and 4 teacher, team leader and the head of Māori, until she resigned in mid-2023.
Banks said there were two distinct groups within the school, those who were safe and those who were the targets. All of the staff members The Press spoke to said they experienced this dynamic.
Banks said she was “safe” for most of the years she worked at West Spreydon, but near the end of 2022 she became a target after she started standing up for her team, questioning the leadership and offering her opinion.
She said she stepped down from her role as team leader at the end of the year, hoping to protect herself by no longer being in leadership meetings.
Banks said she was shouted at, called out in front of an all-school assembly and once received a threatening letter from Langton, which she says was left in her cubbyhole on the final day of term.
The five-page letter, seen by The Press, implied Banks wasn’t meeting the Teaching Council Code of Professional Responsibility and accused her of creating division amongst staff.
“I require you to immediately cease and desist from the unprofessional and potentially harmful conversations you are conducting with a few of your colleagues,” it read.
Banks said the letter was inaccurate. “My experience in that school made me a highly anxious person; panic attacks, sleepless nights, on edge all the time, up for hours, making sure everything was done right to make sure that you won't be reprimanded.”
Banks said she was moving overseas in April.
Another teacher, who resigned in recent years despite not having another job to go to, said it was the best thing they did.
The teacher said once they began voicing their opinion at school they went “from being the golden child to having a target on my back”. However, it was seeing colleagues being broken that really upset them.
“You get eaten alive or you eat other people alive,” they said.
The Press is aware of three staff surveys conducted during Langton’s tenure.
It’s understood one of those surveys, conducted in 2018, was instigated by the NZEI union after multiple staff members raised concerns.
The survey asked union members how they felt at the school, who they were comfortable raising issues with and whether they, or anyone else, had been bullied.
Questions included how they felt as they travelled to work each day, whether their personal safety had been compromised as a result of bullying and if they didn’t feel comfortable approaching the board or the principal about a concern, why not.
The school board said the responses to the survey were “mixed” and noted that at the time there was “some staff division” as well as a disparity in how some staff members were perceived to be treated by others.
As a result, the board agreed to review induction and HR processes and ensure staff understood how to effectively raise a concern, it said.
A second, all-staff, survey was conducted later that year. The board said the survey showed staff generally worked collaboratively.
Those spoken to by The Press said they didn’t feel they could be honest in their survey responses because they were fearful of how their feedback would be received and the potential impact on future employment.
“She made us feel like we would never teach again if we ever said anything,” one teacher said.
The school board has declined to release the findings on privacy and confidentiality grounds.
Over the years, concerns and complaints have been raised with the school board and NZEI. Several took independent legal advice.
The board wouldn’t confirm how many people had raised concerns, gone into mediation, or formally complained, citing privacy concerns.
Some teachers who raised concerns said they went on to have meetings with the board, sometimes with a union member present.
Many said they were told by the union that nothing could be done, while several who were employed in more recent years said they didn’t bother because they had watched others “try and fail”.
During Langton’s tenure, more than 40 staff have left the school after working there for a year, or less. The school has about 25 staff. However, the school board said its staff turnover “sits about average according to national data”.
The board did not address specific questions about Langton but in a statement said the principal and the senior leadership team had the board’s full support. It said the board and staff were committed to providing a safe, positive and enriching environment.
“Any complaints are dealt with promptly and thoroughly by the board to ensure that we have a safe and happy school,” the statement read.
Langton did not respond to questions from The Press. The board said not to expect a personal response from the principal.