Tommy Kapai: We miss good people when they are gone

A board of trustees is a unique posse of individuals, especially school boards of trustees. They are brought together from a diverse cross-section of the community, to guide and guard their school and its pupils.

In a few weeks, schools across the country will vote for new boards and for the next three years these people will steer the school under the guidance of their rangatira - the principal.

I have had an insider's guide to boards of trustees and everything I've learned over the past three years tells me your school is only as good as the rangatira who runs it. If you have a good 'un, hold on to him (or her) - they are worth fighting for.

Last week I went to farewell one of the most amazing principals I have ever had the privilege of working with and I've worked with and met hundreds up and down the country in my 25 years as an educationalist.

Hugh Smith, the retiring principal of Omokoroa Point School, is one of the best.

Hugh breathed a love and a life of learning into his pupils, and it came as no surprise when I heard parent after parent stand at his farewell and testify to the unconditional korowai of love and learning he had left on families up and down the Omokoroa Peninsula.

Many times Hugh would call me to have a korero about the cultural korowai (umbrella/cloak) and how we could work together to make that korowai more vibrant.

I would walk alongside him in the class and in the playground and watch a true rangatira in touch with his people, or in this case, his tamariki.

One father stood and paid homage to Hugh for taking in his daughter, who is in a wheelchair, when other local schools turned the little girl away.

Others painted a picture of a man who took the helm when the school roll had fallen to an all-time low of 60 students and was under the scrutiny of an appointed commissioner.

It was Hugh Smith who turned it around.

Hugh visited each family of every pupil and over the next 18 years built the school to the vibrant long, flat lizard of learning that it is today.

After reading through the Education Review Office's report and after much time spent in the classroom with the kids at Omokoroa Point Primary School, I think it is a shame Hugh is leaving. One thing is for sure, the parents who stood and testified to his value at that farewell didn't want him to go.

Over the next four weeks there will be nominations for boards of trustees across Tauranga Moana, including Omokoroa. If you're elected, I urge you to stand up and be counted for your tamariki, their teachers and especially for principals of Hugh Smith's calibre.

Like all good things, we miss the good people when they are gone.

broblack@xtra.co.nz