Meet the Chair of the FCAC Council: Kirsti Kee

By Ross Strong The role of the Chair and indeed the whole council is not immediately apparent to parents and students. Council members bring their vast experience to advise the Principal and Executive Leadership Team. In our conversation, Kirsti Kee (Chair of the FCAC Council) says that she sees the Council’s role as operating in the background, providing advice and oversight when needed.

The previous week I had reached out to some FCAC students, asking them what I should ask the Chair of Council. There was only one thing they all wanted to know. What is it like to be Mr Wright’s boss? Kirsti laughs when I put this question to her. “It is more of a partnership. Joe and I have learnt to work together over the last few years in particular”. Kirsti recounts meeting Mr Wright at Council meetings and building a working relationship over time as he stepped into the Principal’s role.

Kirsti joined the FCAC Council with a long history in teaching and administrative roles and various board and volunteer appointments. I asked about where she chooses to dedicate her energies. “It’s how you use your skills and where to support your community”, she replies. “I can cook a sausage if needs be, but it isn’t my skill set,” she says laughing, “I am more at home dealing with governance and management, and that is where I like to volunteer”.

I knew of Kristi’s background as a teacher, but I wanted to learn more, so I asked her when she decided to be a teacher. “From secondary school, I went to Teachers College (now QUT Kelvin Grove) and majored in infant education, and when I graduated, I taught years one, two and three”. Kirsti’s parents saw teaching as a safe profession, and indeed many of her friends chose to study education as well.

In 1975, Kirsti and her husband moved to Malaysia, and she was appointed as a teacher at the Malacca International School. “There were many different nationalities whose parents worked in the free trade zone”. For many children in her class, their time in Malaysia was about a cultural experience. “I was fortunate that this happened early in my career as it taught me to be flexible and adapt to whoever was in your class”. After three years, Kirsti and her family returned to Australia, and their next move was to the Northern Territory. Page 7

It was a chance meeting in a post office that would lead Kirsti to the classroom again. “I was in the line in the post office, and a woman stopped me to ask if I was the new lady, married to the pathologist from the hospital. When I said I was, she said that the local school principal would like to meet me as he had heard that I was a teacher”. Due to a desperate need of supply teachers, Kirsti (now seven months pregnant with her second child) agreed to help.

The next few years were busy and got even busier as the family welcomed twins and Kirsti returned to teaching Year 4. It was an eight-year stay in the Territory before it was time to move to Brisbane. Looking back on that time, Kirsti recognises that “the Territory was a wonderful place to raise kids; we would have stayed had it not been that our eldest child was about to start high school”.

Arriving back in Brisbane in the summer of 1987, jobs were scarce. Kirsti secured a position as a foundation teacher at Canterbury College in Waterford. “It was a really amazing experience. I taught a composite Year 6/7”, Kirsti remembers teaching while the School was under construction. The early days of Canterbury College were hectic times, and Kirsti oversaw much of the Primary School’s development. After a few years, Kirsti realised that she was ready for her next challenge, this time, away from the classroom.

Kirsti, who also had a background in hospitality, opened a deli and hospitality business that ran for eight years. This experience allowed her to segue into the TAFE sector, moving back into the classroom working with students again. Kirsti worked in the TAFE sector for several years before moving to the Department of Education as Head of the Brisbane North and eventually as Head of the Wide Bay region.

In 2009, an opportunity to travel for six months and see her son get married presented itself. The time away gave Kirsti some perspective and she decided that she wanted to focus on her volunteer work.

In Kirsti’s mind, volunteering is very much about giving back. “I was so lucky. I grew up in a time of free University education. I think to myself, my community gave that to me, and so at the end of my career, it is important to me to give back to my community, wherever I am.” Currently, Kirsti works with the Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre as the Vice-President of the Management Committee alongside her role as Chair of the FCAC Council. She also volunteers with Rotary and has worked with Wide Bay Sexual Assault Services and as part of Regional Development Australia.

Another chance encounter led to her role on the FCAC Council. Gerard O’Connell (former Business Manager) approached Kirsti about joining the Council. It was an excellent opportunity to combine Kirsti’s experience in education with her passion for volunteering. Kirsti served on Council for a few years before becoming Chair. I asked about the role of the Council and how she sees it. “We have such wide variety of experience from education, governance, finance and marketing. It is about feeding our skills into the Executive Leadership Team”.

I asked Kirsti about what makes a school great. Without hesitation, she says, “Community; Schools thrive on how they interact with their community”. She tells me about the importance of an active community at FCAC and how essential it was to the early days of Canterbury College. “It is important that the school grows with the community,” she says. Hervey Bay has grown significantly and evolved over the years. At each stage, FCAC has been an integral part of the community. “FCAC has always been reflective of the community’s needs; it tailors its programs towards those shifting community dynamics and will continue to evolve”.