Kamo High Schools’ future is again in doubt after their Board of Trustees (BOT) resigned en masse at a board meeting two nights ago. This means that after 6 short weeks, the current Limited Statutory Manager has been unable to resolve the issues and the MoE will need to escalate their efforts to save the troubled school.
Jeremy Hay former Kamo High School BOT Chair who resigned in July spoke of the principal slandering his name, accusing him of purloining school funds, withholding vital information and staff bullying.
He walked out because he felt that he could no longer keep school staff safe.
Hay mourned this situation, “Personally, it made me sick that we couldn't stop some of the things that were happening to some of the staff members within the school. What happened is when we started to question the principal around a lot of these things the attacks turned personal towards myself".
Kamo College Principal Joanne Hutt declined to be interviewed, stating that as an MoE employee, she has been instructed not to comment, but replied via email:
"The one thing that I will say is the BOT asked for help with Governance some weeks ago - directly to the MOE as they were unable to deal with some aspects of this busy role. The MOE appointed an LSM to help them, and now they have all resigned".
According to MoE policy the next step is to appoint a commissioner who will hold all the BOT powers until a replacement board can be appointed.
"By doing that I believe the school will still be function-able and the students will be receiving the best teaching that they can within the school".
It's the third time within a decade that the MoE has intervened at Kamo High School that has had issues around leadership, management and falling student numbers in past years.
Hay concluded, "It's like most things, you’re there for the people you’re providing that service for. It should be a privilege to try and help those people in that school".