Thursday, October 12, 2017
TE Rahui August Sutherland confirms she is resigning as principal of Te Kura Te Whanau-a-Apanui at the end of the year. File photo
Ross McCullough
THE principal of Te Kura Te Whanau-a-Apanui School at Te Kaha, Te Rahui August Sutherland, has resigned but says the decision has nothing to do with the politics involved in getting the new school built.
Rather, her decision to leave at the end of the year is for personal reasons.
Ms August Sutherland is the first principal of the new Year 1-13 state school, which opened in February 2016, born out of the closure of Te Kura o Omaio, Raukokore School and Te Whanau-a-Apanui Area School.
Ms August Sutherland confirmed to Opotiki News she would be leaving by the end of the year, not at the end of October as some people thought.
The school would be advertising for a new principal soon, to start in the new year, she said.
In terms of the new school to be built at the Te Kaha site, she said the process for this to happen had been in motion for a while, with a parent-elected board of trustees in place since March this year.
Recently, the Ministry of Education said construction had been delayed a year to allow more time to work with the school to get an agreed approach to the design work, with new timelines for its construction also agreed.
Currently, preliminary site investigation, geotechnical work and building assessment work was taking place, expected to be completed by mid-November, Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure services Kim Shannon said.
Ms August Sutherland said everyone involved had wanted to make the building of the new school happen with the new board working fabulously, but they “were not going to rush the process either.”
“There’s definitely been challenges, there always is with any school closure, but the board has been working hard to ensure a positive outcome for the children. They are at a really exciting point in the process,” she said.
The new parent-elected board of trustees, is expected to make some announcements in the coming weeks, Ms August Sutherland said.
Board chairwoman Arihia Stirling and chairman of the property subcommittee Willie Te Aho were unavailable for comment on what these announcements might be.
Meanwhile, the school site in Te Kaha remains unoccupied for now, with Ms August Sutherland saying appropriate processes needed to be followed before anything could be moved, rebuilt, or taken away.
Everyone from the school is currently together at Omaio School.
Initially, Ms August Sutherland said senior students were learning about 40 kilometres away at Whangaparaoa School at Cape Runaway, with the junior students based out of Omaio. But that arrangement was only for a month.
The role at Te Kura O Te Whanau a Apanui was Ms August Sutherland’s first as a principal.
Even though she has resigned, she will continue to support the school in some form “just not as its principal.”