School principal struck off after Covid test-result case tells her side of the story

Former Taranaki primary school principal Kathryn Pick has spoken publicly about the four year disciplinary process that ended in June 2026 with the cancellation of her teaching registration.

She spoke in an in-depth interview with independent investigative reporter Penny Marie, now available on YouTube.

Ms Pick has worked in New Zealand education for 27 years, including 12 years as a principal, and had no previous disciplinary history. In late 2021 she lost her principal’s role under the education sector vaccine mandate. She says she could not take the vaccine on medical advice.

A small school, a sudden cluster, and a Christmas in isolation

In December 2021, a Covid-19 cluster emerged in her small rural school community. A parent phoned Ms Pick on a Saturday night to say their child had tested positive. Ms Pick passed this on to the school and helped notify other families.

Over the following days, Ms Pick says, she noticed a pattern that troubled her:

• By her account, more than 30 children tested positive, yet none were unwell.
• In multigenerational homes, siblings and grandparents in close daily contact with positive children did not become ill.
• Two families used rapid antigen tests, supplied through a parent’s workplace, which returned negative results within two days of a positive PCR test.
• Families were given inconsistent advice. One parent told her the story of their child’s positive case would be “on the news” within half an hour of the parent notifying Ms Pick.

A positive result meant three weeks’ isolation over the summer Christmas and New Year holiday period. For some families she knew well, that was a serious welfare concern: single-parent households, homes with vulnerable circumstances, and access to grocery supplies being a 10-15 minute drive away.

“I knew my families really well,” Ms Pick says. “I thought the best thing I could do to help these families was to get a second opinion on the test results. It made sense to me, and it made sense to the families.”

What happened to the information

With parents’ agreement, Ms Pick collected her students’ test information to seek a re-check. She passed it to a lawyer, who forwarded it to the local Medical Officer of Health asking whether the children should be re-tested.

Ms Green also acted for New Zealand Teachers Speaking Out with Science (NZTSOS), which was then challenging the education vaccine mandate in the High Court. Ms Pick was a member of NZTSOS.

Ms Pick says she collected the information for one purpose only: to have the results rechecked so families might be released from quarantine. She says some of it was later summarised into an affidavit with the parents consent, and that any family who did not consent was excluded. She also says she did not know how, or whether, it would be used in the litigation. She disputes media reports saying that she collected the information for the specific reason of the NZTSOS court case.

In January 2022 the Medical Officer of Health complained to the school board, which reported the matter to the Teaching Council. Ms Pick says that when investigators contacted families, parents told her the first question they were asked was whether they knew she had “used their data in litigation”. She believes that framing was unfair. She says the one family whose answer was relied on in the teachers tribunal case against her was not named in the court affidavit, and that she raised this during the process.

The legal outcome

The Teaching Council’s Complaints Assessment Committee charged Ms Pick with serious misconduct in October 2023. Her application for judicial review in the High Court was dismissed in September 2025. In October 2025 she agreed to a statement of facts, accepting misconduct but denying serious misconduct.

In February 2026 the Tribunal issued a minute saying it was unclear what Ms Pick knew about how the information would be used, and wanted another hearing to carry out further cross-examination. She declined to answer, on the basis that the case should be decided on the agreed facts.

In its decision of 10 June 2026, the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal drew an inference from that refusal. It concluded she had provided the information to the High Court by affidavit, and said it would have drawn the same inference from the agreed facts alone. The Tribunal found serious misconduct and cancelled her registration. Its findings – which Ms Pick believes are contestable – were:

• she used her position as principal to obtain the information;
• the consent of some parents was not obtained for its use in the legal proceedings;
• she continued after the school board directed her to stop contacting families.

The Tribunal also stated that its decision was not an expression of disapproval of the legal challenges to the vaccination orders, or of Ms Pick’s involvement in them.

No fine was imposed. The Tribunal ordered Ms Pick to contribute $22,750 towards costs: $21,000 towards the prosecuting committee’s costs and $1,750 towards the Tribunal’s costs. She also faces $22,000 in costs from the High Court judicial review. Ms Pick says she has already spent around $40,000 on her own legal fees. She lost her subsequent role in private education when her registration was cancelled in June 2026.

“I’ve got a clear conscience,” she says. “I know I did the best I could for my families.”
How to help:

1. Support Kathryn: Contributions towards the costs ordered against her can be made via her GiveSendGo page.
2. Share your story: Educators, parents and school staff with experiences from the education system during Covid, particularly any similar to Kathryn’s, can contact Penny Marie confidentially through the tip line at www.pennymarie.nz.

Watch the full interview