'Dictatorial' style sees principal sacked
Former Bay of Islands College principal Elgin Edwards has failed to have his sacking ruled unjustified and to be reinstated.
In a decision today, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) said a constant theme had been Edwards' apparent inability to build enduring relationships with other stakeholders in the school community and his explicit refusal to accept that he had ever done anything wrong.
Edwards became principal of the Kawakawa school in January 2010, and after that a new board of trustees sought help from the Ministry of Education through a statutory intervention.
In January 2012, Beverley Pitkethley was appointed limited statutory manager of the school, and she was followed by Carol Anderson in June 2012.
For all practical purposes, Anderson became Edwards' employer. She dismissed him in April this year.
Evidence heard by the ERA was essentially that the board of trustees had felt it was unable to cope with a deteriorating environment at the school, authority member James Crichton said in the decision.
Two board members had given evidence of their growing anxiety about the relationship breakdown within the wider school community, which they attributed to Edwards' approach.
Pitkethley told the authority that in the first few months of her appointment she formed a positive view of Edwards' goals for pupil achievement but a negative view of his methods, the ERA decision said.
"She described his style as 'authoritarian and dictatorial', referred to 'an absence of any meaningful consultation', a reluctance by the principal to engage personally with the school and its community, including his failure to be seen 'out and about' around the school, and a comprehensive breakdown in the relationship with the local community," it said.
Pitkethley had said the board, like staff, felt "marginalised, patronised and disempowered" by Edwards.
"Ms Pitkethley also saw an unwillingness on the part of Mr Edwards to accept that any of the negative consequences were his responsibility and he preferred to analyse things in terms of a conspiracy of negative-minded staff," the decision said.
Anderson, after taking over as the limited statutory manager, said in a letter to Edwards last September that he needed to change the way he operated.
Edwards had maintained in evidence to the authority that Anderson had developed a negative approach to him immediately and set about overwhelming him with complaints, requests and allegations, the decision said.
Unsuccessful mediation had taken place last year, with further mediation in January 2013.
In February this year, a formal support and guidance action plan drawn up by Anderson for Edwards was implemented, although Edwards raised concerns about it.
About that time, a complaint was received about Edwards' treatment of a staff member.
A meeting in March this year between Anderson and Edwards was terminated, with Anderson's evidence being that Edwards had become "heated and vehement".
Edwards had said it was his idea to end the conversation and that he had been "calm and gentle", and Anderson had become "agitated and personal".
"You then stood over me and berated me with personal comments about how I looked," he said.
In a letter to Edwards in late March, Anderson said "the situation is no longer tenable", and asked Edwards to make himself available for "a final opportunity" to respond to concerns.
Edwards' counsel had said phrases used in the letter indicated Anderson had already decided to dismiss Edwards at that stage, but the ERA disagreed.
While the letter could have been more judiciously worded, particularly to make clear Anderson's conclusions were preliminary, it would have been wrong to hold those provisional conclusions back from Edwards, the authority said.
The parties met at a disciplinary meeting in mid-April. According to Anderson, Edwards did not take as fulsome an opportunity to defend his position as she would have expected, the ERA decision said.
By letter dated two days later, Anderson sacked Edwards.
The decision said the dismissal was in the context of a long-running dispute between Edwards and a succession of employer parties about his behaviour, and in particular about his inability to build wholesome relationships with the people around him.
" ... a constant theme was Mr Edwards' apparent inability to build enduring relationships with other stakeholders in the school community and his explicit refusal until the authority's investigation meeting to accept that he had ever done anything wrong," the ERA said.
" This abrupt righteousness, which seems characteristic of his behaviour in his time at the school, has done him little service."
The ERA determined Edwards had been justifiably dismissed.
- © Fairfax NZ News
