A former principal of St Peter’s College has been elected the head of the board of the Gore school which will remained in statutory management.
Limited statutory manager Nicola Hornsey confirmed John Hogue was appointed to the St Peter’s College school board as one of the proprietor's representatives by the school's proprietor, the Dunedin Catholic Diocese.
Ms Hornsey said at the first school board meeting each year, the board elected a presiding member. Nominations were called and former board chairman Ruth Mitchell nominated John Hogue. No other nominations were received and Mr Hogue was duly elected.
Mrs Mitchell was nominated as Deputy Presiding Member. No other nominations were received and she was duly elected to this office.
Ms Hornsey said Mr Hogue was a very experienced leader in education, a past principal of the school and had a great depth of knowledge about the school, its community and its special character.
His appointment has been well received she said.
"We are all looking forward to working together to achieve our strategic goals and meet the objectives of the statutory intervention," she said.
The school has been under limited statutory management since April last year.
Mr Hogue worked at St Peter’s College as a teacher in the 1970s and then came back as principal in 2009, leaving about four years later.
In her scoping report released in July last year, Ms Hornsey identified four issues that posed risks to the educational performance, health and safety of pupils and to the operation of the school: poor employment practices, incohesive governance framework, dysfunctional relationships between the school and board of trustees and diminished pupil voice.
An intervention plan based on nine Education Review Office’s effective governance statements had been implemented.
In a review of the intervention, Ms Hornsey reported that responsibility for supporting the special character of the school had been given back to the board of trustees.
"It is a credit to the staff and board that the support of special character has been returned to the board’s portfolio.
A further review is to be carried out by the Ministry of Education within the next 12 months.
