Hi, I'm Kathryn Pick. For 30 years I have served in New Zealand education with an unblemished record as a teacher, SENCO, 12 years a principal, and deputy principal of a Community of Learning serving over 3,000 students. My schools were showcased by the Ministry of Education as exemplars of inclusive practice, and in 2021 I received a Mayor's Award for my services to the community during Covid.

Later, that same year, I was terminated.

I have a medical history of anaphylaxis to undiagnosed triggers (I have been tested but none have been identified). On my doctor's advice I could not take the Covid vaccine, and I was granted an exemption — until the government removed the exemption clause. The unsuccessful attempt to attain an exemption from Dr Bloomfield resulted in the loss of my much-loved principal role, my income, and a prestigious three-year leadership scholarship, as a single mum with two dependent children at home.

During a Covid outbreak at my school, vulnerable quarantined families were cut off from safety and essential services including food and medical supplies. With their full consent, I passed their Covid test results to a lawyer — under legal privilege, never publicly — seeking a second medical opinion that could get those results rechecked in the hope they could be released from quarantine.  

You may have read in the media that I "collected children's Covid details for an anti-mandate court fight." That is not true. The data was collected for one purpose only: to have test results rechecked in the hope that struggling families could be freed from quarantine. Some of that information was later summarised into an affidavit — with the consent it required, and excluding any family who did not consent — but I never knew how, or even whether, it would be used in litigation. The Tribunal itself admitted it was "unclear" what I knew about how the information would be used, then resolved that doubt against me when I exercised my legal right not to attend a further hearing. It had been agreed prior that the final decision would be made based on an agreed summary of facts. They then applied the harshest sanction – cancelling my registration based on their assumption that I was fully aware of the data’s use in litigation.

I am open about my involvement with NZTSOS (NZ Teachers Speaking Out with Science). Like many educators, I helped document evidence of the harm the mandate caused across the education sector — because I believed, and still believe, that no one should suffer crippling consequences for declining a medical intervention. It was not the reason for collecting my school families' data.

The investigation ran for four and a half years. Throughout it, I was never stood down — I kept teaching and leading, because I was never considered a risk to a single student. In June 2026 the Teaching Council Tribunal struck me off the register anyway, ending my 30-year career and costing me my second role, this time in private education. I have been ordered to pay $46,000 in costs, on top of the $40,000 in legal fees I have already paid for legal representation.

I am asking for two things:

Awareness. My name suppression has been lifted and I am telling my story publicly for the first time. Please read it, share it, and ask the questions I ask:

1. Was this consequence proportionate?
2. Should a finding of serious misconduct be able to rest on an inference drawn solely from a respondent’s lawful choice not to give further evidence, while also reversing the very uncertainty the Tribunal identified only weeks earlier.
3. When impartiality is in question, can an investigation truly be considered independent if it is reviewed by the same sector in which it sits?

Help with the fines. I am a single mum of four young adults, in my fifties, rebuilding a working life from scratch. I cannot carry this final financial burden alone. Every contribution, however small, goes directly toward the costs ordered against me — and is received with deep gratitude.

I lost my career, my income and my profession. I did not lose my integrity, or the trust of the families I served. Thank you for standing with me.

— Kathryn Pick

My full story, with evidence and testimonials, will be made available to all supporters.