College board sacked

John Carlyon has been named commissioner for Wairarapa College.

The board of trustees at Wairarapa College has been sacked and a commissioner, a former principal of the school, has been appointed to take over the school's management.

John Carlyon, who now lives in the Rotorua area, is regarded as an education trouble shooter and has been called in to several schools to get them back on the road.

His appointment as commissioner for Wairarapa College was gazetted by the Ministry of Education on December 9, with the appointment to become effective immediately.

Education Minister Hekia Parata directed the secretary for education to dissolve the board, replacing it with Mr Carlyon, who was principal of Wairarapa College in the 1980s, succeeded in August 1988 by Alwyn Williams.

The specific reasons for the sacking of the board and appointment of a commissioner have not been clearly spelled out but it comes hard on the heels of news the school was in the red financially and its falling roll was threatening to result in staff cuts.

That state of affairs was acknowledged in late September by Board of Trustees chairman Geoff Copps who, along with his fellow trustees, sought ministry help.

A limited statutory manager, Michael Rondel, was appointed to govern the school but it appears the ministry has now decided to go one step further with a commissioner being empowered to take over the duties previously allotted to the trustees.

Mr Copps said yesterday whereas he and the rest of the board was disappointed at no longer having a role to play at Wairarapa College, he was nevertheless confident the school will emerge from its troubles and that the future for the school was a positive one.

"We thought we were working well with the limited statutory manager, but the ministry has thought it needed to go to the next step," Mr Copps said.

He said by taking over the role of the board Mr Carlyon's job will include making governance decisions, taking responsibility for the school's financial management, property issues and assuring the curriculum is delivered. Day-to-day teaching of the students will be unaffected.

"The kids will still be taught, the bell will still ring - all that sort of thing."

Mr Carlyon was called in as commissioner at Tauriko School in the Western Bay of Plenty in April, 2010, after the board of trustees resigned.

Prior to that he had been working as the limited statutory manager at the school trying to resolve "issues" brought to notice by parents. In July this year he became commissioner at Amisfield School, Tokoroa, at the behest of the ministry and replacing the board of trustees.

In a newsletter to Wairarapa College parents recently, Mr Copps said as the end of the year loomed it was "appropriate to reflect on a very turbulent year".

He said while focusing on delivering the best educational opportunities for students, "we have been living beyond our means for a number of years".

"This year is when it has become unsustainable."

The head of sector enablement and support at the Ministry of Education, Katrina Casey, said a scoping report prepared by Mr Rondel had identified significant concern across a range of issues in relation to finance, employment, health and safety, property and upgrading of the board-owned hostel.

She said tough decisions will need to be made in the short to medium term future of the college, in order to lead it out of the existing financial situation and still stay focused on staff management and meeting the educational requirements of students.

"We therefore considered that the intervention needed to be escalated to commissioner level to meet the challenges ahead."