Principal describes her tearful ordeal

Alison Annan says she was treated for stress two months before she resigned as principal of Cambridge High, but could not take sick leave because the school was short-staffed.

The details of the circumstances leading up to her disputed resignation of August 13 are contained in an affidavit she presented to an Employment Relations Authority hearing this month, obtained by the Waikato Times.

The hearing granted her interim reinstatement as principal.

This week Mrs Annan settled her employment dispute but details have not been made public. She is on sick leave until her resignation becomes effective on December 3.

In the affidavit Mrs Annan described the stress she was under following "what could only be called a grilling" by the school's board of trustees on June 21, after her return from a trip to Thailand and Vietnam.

In July a doctor prescribed her a mild anti-depressant and sleeping medication, she wrote.

"Because we were so short staffed at school, I could not ask for sick leave."

Mrs Annan said on the day of her resignation she became progressively "more and more upset and tearful".

She attended a meeting with the board and Dame Augusta Wallace, whom the board had appointed to investigate allegations of staff bullying.

"I asked Dame Augusta if she thought I should resign. She said: 'Yes, Mrs Annan, I think you should'."

Mrs Annan told the board she would be resigning and left. "I tried to fix up my makeup and calm myself down. I then got into my car."

She stopped and rang her sister, who was horrified, saying she was too upset to make such a decision.

- NZPA