New Zealand is facing a shortage of school board members, as only 60% of the 10,000 required spots have been filled.
School Board Association President Meredith Kennett says that it’s up to community members to get involved.
She told Heather duPlessis-Allan that, ‘it's important that communities continue to get engaged in their school.’
Although the numbers look sub-par now, Kennett says she is expecting a boost in numbers over the weekend.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hither due to c Ellen is the text number standard
text fees applying. Now looks like we are facing a
shortage of school board members. To fill every single board
in the country, we need ten thousand people. Only two
thousand people have applied so far. Meredith Kennett is the
(00:21):
school Board Association president. Hay, Meredith, Hi, what's going wrong
with he?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Wow? I don't know if there is much going wrong.
I've just had some really great updated numbers that one
of our electronic voting people, we actually have four thousand
more nominations than we knew about, so we're definitely more
than halfway there, which is great.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hold on. So we thought it was only two thousand,
and now it's six thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, good news?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Eh? Is that because in the last few hours all
of these people have been kicked into gear? Or did
you lose four thousand somewhere?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, Because we've got a few different providers who are
providing the electronic voting kind of systems which are very
new to schools. We just hadn't got the up that
we thought we would, and we've gone out hunting for them,
and sure enough, there's some people sitting.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
There lost one of the ballot boxes Okay, well that's
a good sign. But we're still four thousand short, right,
We've still got only sixty percent. Is that about what
you would expect or should we be worried about the
gap there?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, it's a lot better than I felt this morning,
so that's good news. But you know, there is still
a gap, and there is definitely still room for people
to get involved if that's.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What they want to do. Okay, and how long have
we got to find those remaining four thousand?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It depends on your local school So I know that
there are schools that are closing today and there are
schools across the country who don't close till next Friday.
So it's all dependent. You have to check out.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Your own communis Meridith. So we need to find four
thousand at least by the end of next week. That
is still that. I mean, that sounds like it's still
a reasonable task, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I think it is a reasonable But we often do
have a bit of a surge in numbers, especially with
a weekend. People have a bit of a chance to
think about it, but they're blurbed together and then then
come together. But yeah, I mean, our principles are definitely
out there scanned people and recapping people and asking them
to come along.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Is this a system that is I mean, is this
worse than normal because people are very busy with the
cost of living and all the other stuff that's going
on that they just don't have time, or is this
is this normal?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I think it's a I think it's a bit of both.
A number of principles have said that it feels a
little bit not quite as it normally would be. Yeah,
that's gonna come on through, now, are you there? Yeah? Yeah, Sorry,
I was just being distracted.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
By the Sorry, carry on. Then don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, good the Yeah, principles are still a little bit
worried that it's that it's slow coming through. But then
we also have some schools which are well over subscribed,
I mean my own personal school, like, for example, it
hops in for Point in Auckland. We've got twenty nominations
for six positions. So some schools are doing fine.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Meredith, is this a sustainable model if we are scratching
around just to find warm bodies to fill positions that
actually really important to a school.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, I mean that's a good question. And one of
my coworkers this morning's talked about maybe a few more
people want to combine their boards and have less people,
but like it's important that communities continue to get engaged
in this school. A school is a hub of the community,
so we want to keep encouraging people to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, So what are you suggesting that some schools, like
you might have three or four schools in an area
combine their boards and those boards look after more than
just one school at a time.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I mean it's a possibility. My board, my school board
is two schools one board, So in some areas that
could really work. There are not so many of us
across the country who are combined boards, but it's certainly
an option if people were really struggling. Yeah, and who knows,
I mean, people will come up with other options as well,
probably shoulders. Tapping is not the most sustainable model, but
(03:54):
it can work.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Meredith, thanks very much, really appreciate it. Meredith Kennett, school
Board Association Prison. More from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen
live to News Talks a B from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Hither due to c Ellen is the text number standard
text fees applying. Now looks like we are facing a
shortage of school board members. To fill every single board
in the country, we need ten thousand people. Only two
thousand people have applied so far. Meredith Kennett is the
(00:21):
school Board Association president. Hay, Meredith, Hi, what's going wrong
with he?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Wow? I don't know if there is much going wrong.
I've just had some really great updated numbers that one
of our electronic voting people, we actually have four thousand
more nominations than we knew about, so we're definitely more
than halfway there, which is great.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hold on. So we thought it was only two thousand,
and now it's six thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, good news?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Eh? Is that because in the last few hours all
of these people have been kicked into gear? Or did
you lose four thousand somewhere?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, Because we've got a few different providers who are
providing the electronic voting kind of systems which are very
new to schools. We just hadn't got the up that
we thought we would, and we've gone out hunting for them,
and sure enough, there's some people sitting.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
There lost one of the ballot boxes Okay, well that's
a good sign. But we're still four thousand short, right,
We've still got only sixty percent. Is that about what
you would expect or should we be worried about the
gap there?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, it's a lot better than I felt this morning,
so that's good news. But you know, there is still
a gap, and there is definitely still room for people
to get involved if that's.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What they want to do. Okay, and how long have
we got to find those remaining four thousand?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It depends on your local school So I know that
there are schools that are closing today and there are
schools across the country who don't close till next Friday.
So it's all dependent. You have to check out.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Your own communis Meridith. So we need to find four
thousand at least by the end of next week. That
is still that. I mean, that sounds like it's still
a reasonable task, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I think it is a reasonable But we often do
have a bit of a surge in numbers, especially with
a weekend. People have a bit of a chance to
think about it, but they're blurbed together and then then
come together. But yeah, I mean, our principles are definitely
out there scanned people and recapping people and asking them
to come along.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Is this a system that is I mean, is this
worse than normal because people are very busy with the
cost of living and all the other stuff that's going
on that they just don't have time, or is this
is this normal?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I think it's a I think it's a bit of both.
A number of principles have said that it feels a
little bit not quite as it normally would be. Yeah,
that's gonna come on through, now, are you there? Yeah? Yeah, Sorry,
I was just being distracted.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
By the Sorry, carry on. Then don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, good the Yeah, principles are still a little bit
worried that it's that it's slow coming through. But then
we also have some schools which are well over subscribed,
I mean my own personal school, like, for example, it
hops in for Point in Auckland. We've got twenty nominations
for six positions. So some schools are doing fine.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Meredith, is this a sustainable model if we are scratching
around just to find warm bodies to fill positions that
actually really important to a school.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, I mean that's a good question. And one of
my coworkers this morning's talked about maybe a few more
people want to combine their boards and have less people,
but like it's important that communities continue to get engaged
in this school. A school is a hub of the community,
so we want to keep encouraging people to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, So what are you suggesting that some schools, like
you might have three or four schools in an area
combine their boards and those boards look after more than
just one school at a time.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I mean it's a possibility. My board, my school board
is two schools one board, So in some areas that
could really work. There are not so many of us
across the country who are combined boards, but it's certainly
an option if people were really struggling. Yeah, and who knows,
I mean, people will come up with other options as well,
probably shoulders. Tapping is not the most sustainable model, but
(03:54):
it can work.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Meredith, thanks very much, really appreciate it. Meredith Kennett, school
Board Association Prison. More from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen
live to News Talks a B from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.