The state and territory branches of the body representing primary and secondary principals associations are expected to hand recently appointed chief executive Liz Furler a list of complaints to take back to the board at an annual national con-veners' meeting in Adelaide on March 26.

The states have accused the board of severing communications with the branches after the unexpected departure of long-serving chief executive Susan Boucher.

Ms Boucher, who declined to comment, had served in the role for 17 years and was described by members yesterday as the heart and soul of the organisation.

Ms Boucher is understood to have walked away at the end of her contract period despite being encouraged to reapply when the board decided to advertise her job rather than simply reappoint her. NSW branch convener Chris Presland said members had been shocked at the board's decision to advertise rather than renew the chief executive's contract and some staff employed in the Adelaide head office were now fearful of losing their jobs.

''The concern we would have in particular in relation to the CEO is that to our knowledge there was never any performance review associated with her work,'' he said.

''Thus we would question why the decision was made to advertise when that had never happened previously in 17 years.''

For more on this story, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.