Kumar always attended board meetings equipped with data-driven reports, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is \u2018how can we do better for the kids … this is not working, what can we do to improve it?\u2019\u201d Roseman said.<\/p>\n
Deputy principal Bindy Hannah, who has been at the school since 1991, will become principal next year.<\/p>\n
Roseman said Hannah\u2019s passion for the school was \u201cobvious\u201d during the interview process, and they were excited to have her as principal.<\/p>\n
Speaking to an auditorium filled with staff and students on Wednesday morning, Kumar said during her whakanui (celebration) that she would miss \u201cthe laughter, the energy, and the buzz\u201d.<\/p>\n
There had been \u201cmore school bells and assemblies\u201d than she could count, and it was time for her to \u201cgraduate\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve taught me far more than I could ever teach you about patience, perseverance, and how to stay calm when things start to go a bit crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kumar spent most of her career at Gisborne Girls\u2019 High School, aside from a few years at Rotorua Boys\u2019 High School in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Kumar had been a deputy principal for 10 years before being appointed principal in June 2015.<\/p>\n
One thing Kumar said she was most satisfied with was the student-led strategic three-year plan, which the student governance council developed and board of trustees accepted.<\/p>\n
The plan would be put into the kura\u2019s new strategic plan, which governs the school\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
It was built on the foundation of the previous four years, which involved the school\u2019s first student-led strategic plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy listening to our students, we are better able to ensure the educational opportunities that we provide are a good fit for your futures. This links to our school vision: Wh\u0101ngaihia te \u0101p\u014dp\u014d \u2013 Empowering rangatahi for life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kumar said she was also pleased about making the nearly 70-year-old kura \u201ca better environment\u201d through maintenance and upgrades, which had been a priority for herself and the board.<\/p>\n
Kumar noted how much technology had changed since she started teaching, from chalkboards and whiteboards to big TV screens used as teaching devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started teaching, photocopiers were a luxury. Our copy-and-paste tools were scissors and glue.\u201d <\/p>\n
Notes were once sent home with students in the hopes the message would make it out of the backpack. Now the school emailed parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot has changed since then for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trends had also come and gone, including hairstyles, uniforms and \u201cskirt length, to name one current example\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were also curriculum reforms … and \u201chere we go again with that\u201d, she said, citing it as one of the things she would not miss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest round of curriculum and NCEA reforms seems way more frenetic, disorganised, and lacking in true consultation than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
She encouraged teachers to keep pushing back because they knew what students needed to be successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I step away, I know the school is in good hands. It will continue to grow and thrive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be cheering you on from the sidelines, preferably somewhere with a coffee that stays hot all the way to the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her career had been \u201cmore rewarding, more challenging, and meaningful than I could ever have imagined\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo everyone who\u2019s been part … of my journey, thank you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hannah told Local Democracy Reporting that she was excited for Kumar because she had worked hard as principal. <\/p>\n
Hannah had been acting principal when Kumar was away for a term a couple of years ago and loved it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both 65 … I could have retired too, but I decided I\u2019ve got more to give,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She loved the school and the students were her favourite part.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery morning for the first hour, I go to every class and just say hello to the students and welcome them. It\u2019s an opportunity every day to check in and make sure the student is all right.\u201d <\/p>\n
Student representative Reremoana Maynard-Wilson and head girl Olivia Robertson-Reiri gave speeches at the whakanui.<\/p>\n
Maynard-Wilson said that through her role she had seen \u201cthe immense mahi\u201d Kumar put into T\u016branga w\u0101hine behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
Robertson-Reiri said students had experienced the privilege of Kumar\u2019s passion and dedication to the kura.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve committed to an environment that makes us proud to call ourselves Girls\u2019 High School students.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kumar always attended board meetings equipped with data-driven reports, he said. \u201cEverything is \u2018how can we do better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34460,5350,74,2046,84,13838,12506,2959,78,78928,78929,111,43,139,69,29192,46440,4062,147,1355,27406,684,61,1533,1530],"class_list":["post-110062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-34460","tag-5350","tag-after","tag-career","tag-education","tag-girls","tag-gisborne","tag-high","tag-in","tag-jan","tag-kumar","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-principal","tag-retire","tag-school","tag-science","tag-starting","tag-teaching","tag-there","tag-to","tag-will","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}