Principal reaches job deal

By ELIZABETH BINNING


Cambridge High principal Alison Annan has reached an agreement over her employment status but the only details to be released from confidential settlement are that she will stand down at the end of the year.

Mrs Annan took legal action this month to get her $100,000 job back, saying she had been wrongly dismissed after voicing intentions to resign - but not officially resigning - in August.

Yesterday her lawyer, Nikki Rice, and Government-appointed school commissioner Dennis Finn released a statement saying Mrs Annan had now officially resigned after an amicable resolution was reached in mediation.

Mrs Annan's last day will be on December 3 but she will not return to the school, despite being reinstated on full pay last week by order of the Employment Relations Authority.

Ms Rice said the finer details of the settlement, including whether there had been any kind of compensation or payout, were confidential.

"I can't go into whether it was money or anything else. There are many ways you can settle a claim."

In an affidavit presented to the authority before last week's reinstatement Mrs Annan said the unfair dismissal would cause her to suffer enormous financial hardship if she was not put back on the payroll while the matter was resolved.

She said the dismissal would halve the superannuation entitlement she would have received if she completed her career in state education service at 60 or 65 as planned. She had expected to spend up to 15 more years at the school.

Mr Finn said the settlement meant the school could now focus on addressing issues that benefited the staff, students and community.