Crisis Management and School Leadership: When You Become the News Story

Abstract

Crisis Management and School Leadership: When You Become the News Story explores school leadership responsibilities under Section 127 of the Education and Training Act 2020, which mandates that schools provide physically and emotionally safe environments for all students and staff. In 2024, the school was in the spotlight after a student died while on a school trip to an ice-skating rink. This workshop examines leadership responses when a school becomes the centre of a traumatic, life-altering incident. Moving beyond policy and planning, it focuses on the human, ethical, and strategic challenges leaders face during a crisis. Aligned with the conference themes of honouring the past, embracing the present, and designing the future, the session facilitates discussion on decision-making, duty of care, and leading a school community through tragedy and recovery.

Biography

Dr Peggy Burrows

Dr Peggy Burrows is Manukura/Principal of Haeata Community Campus in East Christchurch. Appointed interim principal in 2019 and permanently in 2020, she led the school through significant cultural, academic, and wellbeing challenges in a community with one of New Zealand’s highest Equity Index ratings. Over the past five years, her leadership has driven strong improvement, including a 600 percent increase in NCEA Level 1 achievement from 7.5 percent in 2021 to 47 percent in 2023. National data and recent ERO reports highlight strengthened culture, safety, attendance, and student pride.