"...no organisational situation, no infrastructure, should be so fragile as to depend on one person." FILE PHOTO
"...no organisational situation, no infrastructure, should be so fragile as to depend on one person." FILE PHOTO
THERE'S an old saying that goes: never be indispensable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
It comes to mind as I reflect on the integrity of Makoura College principal Tom Hullena, who will be standing down from the principalship as reported in our paper yesterday.
In MrHullena's case, it's a situation of a man who was utterly instrumental in turning a school's fortunes around, and I'm sure at certain points it might well have hung on his energy and charisma. But he is not indispensable, and no organisational situation, no infrastructure, should be so fragile as to depend on one person. That's irresponsible and Mr Hullena is anything but.
He talks about the "noble mission" but that doesn't make him a saviour -- and it would probably embarrass anyone to be placed on that kind of pedestal. Rather, Mr Hullena is one of those people who can see how to untangle a major project and has the toughness and resilience to pursue it even though it's going to take him into out-of-hours work.
There are people out there who surrender the niceties of regular hours because the project is bigger than that -- and you're the one in charge. Those people aren't common, and Makoura College was lucky to get one who was able to go the distance.
Establishing a strong team is a major service for the school, and the community, and Mr Hullena went beyond that, creating relationships and teamwork among the Masterton education sector, and community providers. It's a lesson to us all that no school should ever be in isolation. Communication and developing partnerships beyond the education sector help a school thrive and, at the Times-Age, we'd like to think we play a part in that, and with any school that wants to demonstrate its successes.
I know that publicity is often the last thing on the mind of a busy teacher or principal as the buses are being organised for that school trip to plant at wetlands or tackle a project at Aratoi.
But keep us mind. Unlike Mr Hullena, we have the easy job -- turn up, get some quotes and a photo, and write a story. What we want to show is that hard work pays off, from pupils up to the principal.
