A Niggle

I applied twice for a principal’s position. I was an inspector of secondary schools when I was interviewed for a Christchurch school. I knew the interview had gone well, indeed I subsequently learnt that the Board argued for hours but eventually gave it to someone else on the casting vote of the chairman. It was touch and go.

Looking back the decision was the right one. The successful candidate was the deputy principal. I have long held the heresy that boards often make a mistake and go past a loyal DP to take the apparently glamorous outsider.

I also suspect I wasn’t ready. That’s a hard one. Thrown in the deep end I might have managed. But I was still fairly callow then in terms of people management skills and very young and rather cocky. Up till then I’d always got a job I’d applied for. Ahead of the baby boomer tidal wave I’d stayed afloat by dog-paddling.

Shortly after I won a position in the Head Office of the old Department of Education housed in the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere. I’d just started when a new school near Wellington advertised for a principal. I sent in my application forms.

Short-listing came up. I wasn’t on it. I learnt that my name had been withdrawn without my knowledge. Furious I sought an explanation. My boss said ‘well we thought seeing you’d just started here you’d made a choice. Didn’t realise you were serious.’ I said things that probably did not advance my career there. But life turned out well. While I have a niggle of regret – it would have been nice to have run a school - I have enjoyed the subsequent years.