Education Law Summit Wellington
Work towards creating a harmonious school environment by hearing the latest legal issues affecting your school, its students and faculty. Receive practical knowledge on NZPF legal assistance for principals, employment law updates, standing down, suspension, confiscation, and discipline. Develop rigorous complaints policies and procedures and feel confident responding when parents query. Plus, handle mental health and your staff, working with police, complaints. 229NZW01
Description
Attend and earn 7 PLD hours
Session 1
School Governance, Staff Misconduct and Issues with Parents
Chair: Simon Kenny, Principal, Fergusson Intermediate School
GOVERNANCE, BOARDS, POLICIES AND COMPLAINTS HANDELING
8.45am to 8.50am Opening Comments by the Chair
8.50am to 9.35am Principals are People too
The NZPF Principals’ Advice and Support Scheme (PASL) supports Principals around New Zealand on matters affecting their own employment. This session will cover the principals' perspective on;
- What rights does a principal have as an employee of the Board
- What can go wrong and how you might avoid it
- Working with your new Board
- School policy and procedure
- Managing with Covid
Presented by Fi McMillan, Senior Associate, Anderson Lloyd
9.35am to 10.15am School Boards: What Can go Wrong and What you can do About it?
- The role of the Board
- Governance/Management divide
- The importance of policies and procedures
- Different types of Statutory Interventions
- Education and Training Act 2020, (new legislation replacing Education Act 1964 and 1989, incorporating elements of both) introducing:
- School principal appointment criteria
- New complaint and dispute resolution panels
- Code of conduct for board members
- New types of low level statutory interventions
Presented by Madeleine Hawkesby, Special Counsel, Duncan Cotterill
10.15am to 10.30am Morning Tea
10.30am to 11.15am Developing Complaints Policies and Procedures: Discretionary Decisions
Most decision making in the education environment requires the exercise of discretionary judgment. Good complaints policies and procedures provide guidance for making fair and reasonable decisions but they do not guarantee it. Decision makers still need to exercise their discretion fairly in the circumstances of the particular matter before them and need to be seen to have done so. This session will analyse the following:
- Navigating student and whanau and staff expectations of what fair, just and transparent decision making in the education environment requires
- What do the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness oblige you to consider when making discretionary decisions that impact on a student’s receipt of education
- Managing unreasonable complainant behaviour
Presented by Leo Donnelly ONZM Barrister, Public Law Toolbox Chambers
HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF STAFF AND FACULTY
11.15am to 12.00pm Employment Law: Update
- Staff wellbeing, and effectively managing the risk of burnout
- Conflict in the workplace
- Employment Investigations: Getting them right
- Restorative processes to get relationships back on track
Presented by Geoff Davenport, Barrister, Capital Chambers
12.00pm to 12.45pm Mental Health and Your Staff
Managing employee’s anxiety, depression and other mental illness is increasingly an issue for employers, requiring care and proactive management.
- Explore the legal requirements and obligations for employers around mental health
- Focus on your obligations to provide employees’ with a safe work environment
- Understand how to manage issues when they arise: return to work and medical termination
Presented by Johanna Drayton, Partner, Dyhrberg Drayton Employment Law and Zahra McDonnell-Elmetri, Lawyer, Dyhrberg Drayton Employment Law
12.45pm to 1.00pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Learning Objectives:
- Gain valuable perspective on the NZPF Principals’ Advice and Support Scheme (PASL)
- Understand What can go Wrong with School Boards and What you can do About it
- Explore Complaints Policy Development and Procedure
- Consider the biggest Employment Law Updates
- Gain perspective on Mental Health and Your Staff
Session 2
Critical Employment Issues Affecting Schools
Chair: Denise Johnson, Principal, Hutt Valley High School
1.45pm to 2.30pm Update from the Teaching Council
Presented by Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, Mātatu
SUPPORTING YOUR STUDENTS
2.30pm to 3.15pm Working with Police When a Child Discloses Information
- What to do you when a child discloses or you suspect abuse
- Immediate responsibilities and obligations
- The process where there are potentially multiple victims within the school
- Post-incident procedures
- School Child Protection Policies
- What an employer can do to create an environment where unsafe conduct is proactively rather than reactively addressed
Presented by Detective Senior Sergeant James Patea, National Child Protection Co-Ordinator Police National Headquarters, Wellington
3.15pm to 3.30pm Afternoon Tea
3:30pm to 4.15pm Bullying: Walking the Walk
- What is bullying? What is not bullying?
- Statutory Framework
- Dealing with complaints (Informal and formal)
- The investigation process
- The role of HR: workplace culture
Presented by Kirsty Wallace, Senior Associate, Duncan Cotterill
4.15pm to 5.00pm Managing Social Media: Staff and Students
- Responding to Staff misconduct on social media:
- A staff member posts stories about their drunken weekend party, including questionable photos: What should you do?
- How far can you go in managing your staff’s social media activity?
- Inappropriate online interaction with students: from serious misconduct to the grey areas
- Social media policies: practical tips and example policy provisions
- Getting reluctant staff to appropriately engage in social media
- Relevant case law and examples
Presented by Lucy Jenkins, Senior Associate, Employment Team, Simpson Grierson
Learning Objectives:
- Receive Practical Guidance for Working with Police When a Child Discloses Information
- Learn Useful tips for Dealing with Bullying
- Consider Best Practice in Managing Social Media for Staff and Students
Presenters
Fi McMillan
Fiona is a Senior Associate at Anderson Lloyd, specialising in employment and education law. Prior to becoming a lawyer Fiona worked as a primary school teacher in New Zealand and in the UK, and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Advocacy. She has also worked on several Boards. This experience puts her in a strong position to advise on employment matters and on legal issues affecting schools. Fiona is committed to working with her clients to find the best possible outcome, whether that can be achieved by constructive discussions and resolution of issues or through more formal processes.
Madeleine Hawkesby
Madeleine is special counsel in the Christchurch employment law team at Duncan Cotterill. She enjoys working in collaboration with her clients to provide practical, strategic and solution focused advice. Her expertise covers all aspects of employment law, from disciplinary process, performance management, incapacity, investigations, restructuring, drafting employment agreements and policies, and mediations. Madeline has expertise in mediating and facilitating conflict resolution solutions between employees. She advises employers from a wide range of industries, and has particular expertise in the education sector where she not only advises on employment law matters but also has experience in privacy law, parent complaints, health and safety, student disciplinary matters, ombudsmen investigations, Official Information Act requests, performance appraisal, school governance and conflict resolution. Madeleine has been appointed by the Ministry of Education as a Limited Statutory Manager and as a Commissioner in a number of schools throughout the South Island.
Leo Donnelly
Leo Donnelly ONZM is a former Ombudsman of New Zealand and is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in official information and privacy law. As an Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman and a senior investigator at the Office of the Ombudsman, Leo spent 3 decades investigating and reviewing complaints about the administrative actions and procedures of state sector organisations and recommending resolutions to promote fair, just and transparent delivery of services to the public. This involved assessing individual actions and omissions in the context of an organisations systems and culture and statutory responsibilities. Leo brings governance and strategy expertise and wide experience in complaint handling and dispute resolution.
Geoff Davenport
Geoff Davenport has been a specialist employment lawyer for over 26 years. He has worked in New Zealand and overseas, including for the United Nations. He has a Masters Degree in Law, focusing on issues of good faith. He acts for public and private sector employers, unions and employees throughout the country, and commenced at the Bar in May 2019.
Johanna Drayton
Johanna Drayton is a partner at Dyhrberg Drayton Employment Law, a specialist employment law practice in Wellington. The firm has won the NZ Law Awards Employment Law Specialist Firm of the Year award in 2015, 2020 and 2021. Johanna has over 25 years post admission experience working in a large law firm (now known as DLA Piper), and then as a partner in a boutique litigation law firm (Parker & Associates). She has completed an honours degree in privacy law. Her clients are public and private sector employers and employees. She has published on Privacy, Official Information and the Human Rights Act. Johanna is a member of the New Zealand Law Society, New Zealand Law Society Employment Law Committee (Wellington Branch), and the Wellington Women Lawyers' Association. She is a Board Member of Vitae, a nationwide provider of workplace wellness and counselling services. Johanna undertakes independent investigations for employers into complaints arising in the workplace in relation to a raft of concerns including alleged workplace bullying and harassment. She completed and passed the exams for the AHI Training Institute for Workplace Investigators in Atlanta, GA and now holds the AWI-CH distinction for Workplace Investigators. Johanna has significant experience and expertise in all aspects of employment practice, advocacy and independent investigations. She regularly presents at seminars, conferences and is a recurring presenter at the Industrial and Employment Relations Summit. She also provides targeted training for clients.
Zahra McDonnell-Elmetri
Zahra is a Lawyer at Dyhrberg Drayton Employment. Zahra advises on a full range of employment issues including recruitment, restructures, investigations, personal grievances, disciplinary processes, representing clients at mediation, negotiating exit packages and navigating COVID-19 related employment issues. She has also written a number of articles including for the Aotearoa Women’s Law Journal and presented at a number of conferences. Zahra enjoys engaging with a wide range of clients to help assist them with difficult matters and create successful outcomes. Before graduating from the University of Otago with First Class Honours, Zahra was an active member of the Otago Women in Law Society and Community Law Otago, assisting in the Refugee Immigration Legal Advice Service and Legal Education team. She is also an active member of the Wellington Women’s Lawyers’ Association.
Denise Johnson
Denise Johnson is the principal of Hutt Valley High School, a large co-educational secondary school with a roll of 1730 students. Denise started her teaching career in Southland at Menzies College. She then taught for 3 years at various schools in London before returning to New Zealand in 1990. Denise was a Deputy Principal at Wellington Girls’ College and Wellington High School before joining the leadership team at HVHS as an Associate Principal in 2012. Denise is a trustee and founding member of the Wellington Loop. She is interested in the transformative power of collaboration between educators and schools in order to build teacher capability and to develop innovative thinking and practice.
Detective Senior Sergeant James Patea
James joined the Police in 1997 and started in Lower Hutt, Wellington. In 2001, he joined the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) where he spent several years as a Detective before holding other roles as a Police recruit instructor and community policing which included being in charge of a community policing suburb in Wellington. In 2010, he returned to the CIB as a Detective Sergeant and supervised serious crime investigation teams in the Wellington district. His passion is families and after working several years as a CIB supervisor in child protection, in 2016, he moved to the Police National Headquarters taking up roles as a National Family Violence Coordinator and a National Child Protection Coordinator. James is now the Operations Manager for Te Pae Oranga, a supported resolutions process for certain offending focusing on education, prevention and accountability, using tikanga and kaupapa Māori and restorative justice practises.
Kirsty Wallace
Kirsty is a seasoned litigation and dispute resolution lawyer specialising in employment law. She is also experienced in commercial litigation, medico-legal matters and local authority regulation as a prosecutor. Kirsty has represented clients in a wide range of disputes in various courts and tribunals including mediation, the Employment Relations Authority, the District Court, the High Court and a number of specialist tribunals. Kirsty enjoys building strong relationships with clients, understanding their matter and then providing clear and practical solution based advice that delivers results.
Lucy Jenkins
Lucy Jenkins is a senior associate in the firm's employment law group in the Wellington office. Lucy has worked with Simpson Grierson since 2004 (excluding periods working for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, and 3 periods of parental leave). Lucy advises on all areas of employment law and advisory work, and health and safety. Lucy regularly assists clients with making strategic personnel changes at an executive level. Key to addressing her clients' needs, Lucy assists both in preventing employment problems arising, and in representing clients in the event employment relationships have broken down. In this latter capacity, Lucy regularly attends mediations, investigation meetings in the Employment Relations Authority, and hearings in the Employment Court.
Venue
InterContinental Wellington
Level 1, 2 Grey Street
Wellington 6011
New Zealand
Parking information
Limited valet parking available at $20 per day. Additional parking available at Wilson Parking with $5 per half hour and $22 for early-bird.
Parking is not included in the registration fee and price is subject to change.
Directions
The Intercontinental is a 2 min walk from Lambton Quay which has a number of buses going to airport and suburbs. It's a 10 min walk to the nearest train station.
Taxis are also available downstairs at the hotel entry.