Interview with Eric Annegaarn – board Member 1998 – 2004 Eric, whose son Bjorn was a pupil at St David’s and matriculated in 2002, was a member of the board of governors from 1998 and was elected chairman for 2003 and 2004, taking over from Tony Reilly. ... »
Interview with Eric Annegaarn – board Member 1998 – 2004 Eric, whose son Bjorn was a pupil at St David’s and matriculated in 2002, was a member of the board of governors from 1998 and was elected chairman for 2003 and 2004, taking over from Tony Reilly. Eric used to question “Why do so many non-Catholic parents wish to enrol their sons at St David’s, a Catholic school?” which gained a lot of momentum with the “Beyond Our Gates” project and motivated Rick Wilson to encourage Eric to join the board. When Eric resigned from the board, Tony Chappell took over the reins. Eric’s priority was to speed up the process and to get rid of some of the formalities. He aimed to revitalise the board which he felt had become moribund. The board got tied up with all sorts of issues including ethics and overseas tours. Eric set up committees to which much of this work was delegated and the board could then make decisions without long discussions and debate late into the night. Janet Seeland and Father Michael were members of the committee debating the issue of school tours, the cost to the individual, fundraising activities, levies on school fees etc. Projects such as the astro turf and the chapel took ages. Issues such as to whether the school was regarded as a charitable institution and, in that case were donations tax free? The board also had to report to the IEB, the government’s Department of Education and to Rome and now to the Marist Schools Council. The board had to continue a relationship with the Marist Brothers in Rome and various important issues came up such as who owned the school property and where were the Title Deeds? Eric had a good relationship with Paul Edey who was not an administrator. When Paul was made executive headmaster Malcolm Williams was appointed Headmaster. Eric worked at the school with Paul Edey four days a week from 4.00 until 8.00pm with Rob Smith heading the development committee. The planning for the Foundation which took an enormous amount of time was during Eric’s tenure as chairman of the board and the re-naming of the school which also involved a lot of time and debate. JLE March 2015
