Good morning and welcome to the first teachers-only day for 2013. I trust the break has given you a chance to recharge your batteries and do any other minor maintenance the motorcar may have required.
Last year is possibly not one you remember with any fondness so let us hope for better things in the months that lie ahead.
We will certainly not be faced again with me being dismissed by the Board of Trustees. That dismissal, you will recall, resulted in half the teaching staff protesting and resigning. How proud I was to see the placards they paraded with, although I'm not sure that ''We Support Our Principle'' did much for the school's academic image.
I was equally proud when I was re-instated after a special investigation. Then, of course, several more teachers and the Board of Trustees resigned. Very unsettling, but a great example of the democracy that underpins the historic changes brought about by Tomorrow's Schools.
Sadly, this time of uncertainty and upheaval led to many parents deciding to remove their daughters from the school. We lost 200 of our brightest students when I was dismissed and another 200 when I returned to office. Quite a blow, as you can imagine. Hockey was virtually wiped out but, luckily, the overseas students stayed on and table tennis remained strong.
One problem which I'm afraid has not yet been fully resolved is the matter of payment of wages. There has been plenty of publicity about the Novopay scheme so I need only recap briefly on the effect it has had on this school. Sadly, four of our best teachers simply had to resign after 10 weeks of no wages, but it is nice to catch up with them in their new jobs at the check-out counters.
They tell me that weekly wage packet is a real highlight for them now. Naturally we miss Gwenda Dewsbury, our popular social studies and civics teacher, who was paid $3.2 million in holiday pay in August and managed to slip away to the Bahamas before payment could be stopped.
Her post as student counsellor has been very difficult to fill, but her donation of a cup for the Girl Most Likely To Succeed will be a reminder of the many productive and happy years she spent at the school.
The Ministry has informed us that in 2013 a new wages payment system will be in place. Each school has been allocated several new office staff who will, on pay day, ask each teacher what they think their wages should be for that fortnight.
One of the office people will then run the teacher down to the bank and withdraw that exact amount from the Ministry's account and it will be checked there and then and the cash handed over to the teacher. Very tidy and pretty well foolproof, the Director-general has told us.
The very expensive computer system won't be wasted however. A $6 million re-programming project will see it used to find out why hundreds of students have not been credited with NCEA passes to which they are entitled.
On the brighter side, our much-loved caretaker, Joe, is now out of intensive care after that unfortunate accident with the ride-on mower during the holidays and we hope to have him back in the boiler room within a week or two.
The mower, though, is a write-off, and I understand the police will want to ask Joe about his decision to trim the Octagon lawns in the early hours of New Year's Day.
Which reminds me, the police report that our Leavers' Ball was one of the best-behaved on record. Only three arrests were made and all three were of adult chaperones who had had a few too many. Our own girls were, of course, let off with a stern warning.
And so, the thrill of a new school year which is dear to the hearts of all teachers is now upon us, but all the drama of the past months has certainly had its effect, I'm afraid.
The enrolment days last week were rather quieter than usual. It may have been the good weather keeping people at the beach but, whatever the reason, I have to report that figures were well down on last year.
In fact, no-one turned up at all apart from an odd-looking man who admitted he had a conviction for some sexual offence or other and asked about a job as physical education teacher for the senior girls or, failing that, something in the school canteen. I have to say I turned him down. Too much goes missing from the canteen as it is.
So, on the first day of school tomorrow it will be just you and me, Beatrice. And by the way, you are now deputy principal. Congratulations.
Jim Sullivan is a Dunedin writer and broadcaster.
