Five new board members have been welcomed to the organisation as it says farewell to its general manager Della Henderson, who has resigned.
Ms Henderson has filled the role since mid 2023 and was heavily involved in a controversial plan for New Zealand Kindergartens (NZK) to step in and assist with day-to-day governance.
A former Dunedin Kindergartens (DK) staff member who worked under Ms Henderson called her a "change-maker", and said she was most likely brought into DK for the sole purpose of ushering in governance changes.
The new board members elected are Dunedin Airport chief executive Daniel De Bono, child psychologist Neresa Hall, family lawyer Heidi Gray-Holland, primary school teacher and Scout leader Matthew Wallis and former chief operations officer Jenna McPhee.
Kindergarten teacher Jane Davis was also voted on to the board to represent the teachers, something that was removed under governance with NZK.
Ms Davis worked for Dunedin Kindergartens for about 15 years across a range of kindergartens throughout the city.
DK board chairwoman Dagmar Polson said she was pleased with the new appointments, and the range of skills the new board members possessed would help the association.
"The expertise and energy of our newest appointments will be essential as we continue to strengthen relationships with our kaiako, our wider staff, as well as our committees’ parents and caregivers."
She said DK HR capability manager Tracey Scurr had been appointed acting general manager.
The changes come after months of "chaotic upheaval" within DK after the association in April entered into a memorandum of understanding with NZK that brought with it a trial of a new governance model, which included removing parent committees from the constitution.
Following the memorandum, factions formed between parents for and against the changes, kindergarten closures were threatened by NZK and DK, the DK board threatened to resign en masse and an extraordinary meeting was held at which DK committees voted to stay with or dissociate from NZK.
A parent said at the time "this entire situation has embroiled us all in division and scandal".
Ultimately, committees voted to remain with NZK. However, a month later it was announced the divisive memorandum was terminated and the trial would be dropped.
In the midst of the chaos, five of the seven spots on the board opened up and DK sought a teacher to also join the fold.
The new members joined Ms Polson and deputy chairwoman Narelle Jakeway to make up the board.
"The new board members bring such great skills and experience, which gives me confidence that we can bring stability and change for the better going forward," one parent said.
