Education Department offers incentives as Mount Gambier High School fails to hire new principal

The six figure salary hasn’t been enough and now the Education Department is considering extra incentives to find the right replacement for an outgoing leader.

A regional South Australian high school has failed to fill its principal position and will be forced to repeat the recruitment process.

The first attempt to hire a Mount Gambier High School principal came up short but the Education Department is now willing to consider extra incentives on top of a $168,935 base salary to find the right candidate.

Former principal Chris Edmonds left at the end of last year to move to Adelaide and lead Walkerville Primary.

Interim Mount Gambier principal Peter McLaren was set to fill the role for first semester, but announced he would stay on for Term 3 as no permanent replacement had been found in a six-month search.

Current Mount Gambier High School principal Peter McLaren. Picture: Mount Gambier High School

In a newsletter he said the selection panel, chaired by education director Adam Box had made clear “only the right person for this position would be chosen”, ultimately deciding “no successful applicant” was in the school’s best interest.

The department could not reveal the number of applicants to “protect candidates’ privacy”, but said in a statement it was committed to finding the right person for the job.

“The principal position at Mount Gambier High School was advertised through the normal process, however the panel did not recommend any of the applicants as suitable,” the statement read.

“Quality leadership is critical to achieving world class education in our schools and preschools.

“We encourage any interested candidates to contact the education director, Adam Box, to discuss this exciting role and the support available to attract people who might not normally consider relocating to Mount Gambier.”

The department did not answer questions about whether there were broader problems with securing principals across the state.

In 2019 The Advertiser revealed that more than 20 public schools started that year without a permanent principal, in some cases because of a lack of suitable candidates.

At the time, principals called for greater administrative support and for the growing burdens placed on school leaders to be reduced to make the job more attractive.

They said some assistant and deputy principals were reluctant to go for the top jobs, with increasingly aggressive parents and growing expectations that public schools deliver everything from sports teams to cyber safety among the reasons.

In 2017, the department even had to readvertise the plum job of leading the flagship new Adelaide Botanic High (which opened in 2019), after an initial recruitment drive failed to find suitable candidates.

The Mount Gambier position will be readvertised in week one of Term 3 with the department saying it had the discretion to offer a range of incentives depending on the circumstances of the successful applicant.

In the newsletter Mr McLaren was confident the new process would ensure the school of more than 700 students would have a new leader by Term 4.

“The Department for Education has ensured that maximum advertising for this position at both state and national levels will occur,” he said.

“This will, where possible, include incentives to attract the quality principal Mount Gambier High School requires to further enhance its vision and direction. ”