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Schoolboys will be schoolboys, but parents can be their own worst enemies.
Bravo to St Bede’s College Rector, Justin Boyle, for standing firm on the school’s code of conduct. Breaching airport security, by illegally taking a ride on a luggage carousel into the secure area is no trifling matter.
The two roguish rowers who did so at Auckland Airport on Friday, should count themselves lucky that the police and Aviation Security let them off with a stern warning.
But as ambassadors of the school, competing in an elite sporting regatta, their feckless actions blatantly breached the school’s code of conduct, which they and their parents willingly signed up to.
Sidelining these carousel clowns from the Maadi Cup was the only credible option for Justin Boyle. In his 13 years as rector of St Bede’s his firm but fair leadership style has been his unwavering trademark.
Highly-respected for his zero-tolerance approach on bullying and drugs, Boyle has insisted that the school community plays by the rules, and those who fall foul of the rules face clear consequences.
His decision to axe the carousel riders from the school’s Maadi Cup rowing team is entirely consistent with the school’s values, and more-importantly, fully in accordance with the code of conduct.
After last year’s shameful hijinks in Tekapo by a bunch of school rowers, it’s all the more galling that rogue rowers have generated embarrassing newspaper headlines for St Bede’s, again.
But if this was a script from the Dumb and Dumber playbook, it’s the parents of the two banned rowers who I believe have really defied all bounds of common sense.
Tromping off to the High Court to seek an urgent injunction, in a bid to get their boys back in the row boats stinks to high heaven of elitist self-entitlement. Where’s the dignity? The decency? The self-respect? Continue reading
- Mike Yardley is a former Newstalk ZB host, a regular Fairfax columnist and former St Bede’s pupil.
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