BOONAH High School’s new principal said the decision to move his family to one of the Scenic Rim’s most appealing towns was made after falling in love with everything the rural community had to offer.
Mr Marrone, his wife Jenna and their three young children moved from the Gold Coast to Boonah at the beginning of this year.
Everything happened at once he said, they loved the area and travelled through it often.
Each time they travelled through the district, Mr Marrone said he thought “this would be the perfect place to raise our children”.
The problem was he was working at Varsity College on the Gold Coast and had purchased a house.
"We were coming out Boonah way quite a bit and started to look at properties, trying to work out whether it would be worth the commute to the coast,” he said.
“Then all of a sudden the job as principal came up for Boonah High School. This was in November last year.
“I got on the phone right away to the Assistant Regional Director for this area and just sort of said ‘I want to be out there, what do I need to do
to get this job’.
“I got interviewed and got the job.”
The house he bought 18 months ago on the Gold Coast, sold over Christmas.
“I visited the school on the Friday of week nine of last term. I was only here for one night and my wife rang, she was in Canada at the time, and said ‘I found this house can you go look at it?’.
“I inspected the house and bought it on the spot.”
He said his role as Principal was to remind young people of their
potential and find ways for them to be whatever it was that creates a healthy and happy adult.
“Young folk today are bombarded by news, social media, what they should look or be like,” he said.
“They think they need to aspire to a level of life that is synonymous with being affluent and socially active all the time                                                                                    “I think they need someone to remind them that they are enough.                                                                                                                                                                      “I tell parents that we are the buffers they need in life; the school and the home should work together because we both want the same outcome.”
He said he ran an ‘open door policy’ when it came to communication with parents.
“Pick up the phone, email me or come and see me – you don’t need to make an appointment, if you need me I am here,”
“Because that’s what community schooling is all about.”