It was a cruel catalyst for change. Just one dark moment in early-January. It didn't make the newspapers or the TV, and no-one saw it coming.

A 20-year-old committed suicide and it ignited the social conscience of a Tauranga school teacher.

'He was a standout pupil when I arrived at this school,” says Merivale School teacher and principal Jan Tinetti. 'I just loved him to pieces.” But she loves them all. And you sense that love and respect is reciprocated in buckets.

The suicide impacted heavily on Jan, the head of this city's only decile one primary school with the 10 per cent of kids who more than likely live in a state house, in a neighbourhood where welfare might be the main employer and where many kids don't get a lunch to take to school.

'A young life had been needlessly cut short, he was so young. And I felt we have got to give hope; there's got to be hope for these people.”

The event impacted deeply. Jan had been resisting the Labour Party headhunters who'd been pressuring the high profile teacher to join its ‘celeb' list of candidates – the Willy Jacksons and Greg O'Connors. 'I said ‘No' because I still had work to do at Merivale. I'm loving what I do. I absolutely adore my job, the kids and the community.”

Then as if to validate that young man's life, to make a difference and bring hope to others, Jan changed her mind.

'I know I could be fighting for education and the rights of my children and that's important. But there's a bigger picture.” For Jan that picture is one of social justice across education, health, welfare and wellbeing. 'And I have the skills and the profile to advocate effectively for the people who often feel their voices are not being heard. We have to be caring about everyone in this city and, at the moment I don't think we are.”

Then the teacher rolls her eyes and sighs. 'Yeah, let's be realistic.” Realistic about Tauranga's sitting MP and a Minister of the Crown Simon Bridges, who holds a 15,000 vote majority with Labour nestled in behind New Zealand First. 'Simon will be hard to dislodge.”

Hard but not impossible, thinks Jan. And she's looking to the missing million to help her, so she can help them. The missing million – that section of the electorate that doesn't engage with electoral process, that doesn't vote. A simple analysis tells us it's the young and poor who don't know how to vote, don't care or don't see the point.

'We have a big percentage of the missing million in places like the Tauranga South region who aren't voting,” says Jan.

Across the electorate 9729 people from a roll of 46,822 didn't vote in Tauranga in 2014. 'Let's give them a reason to get active, to get involved in the process; to get engaged in setting the tone for the future.” She wants to reach out to those people and give them another strong political option.

'An ex-parent who hadn't voted in years rang to say she was now excited about politics because she connects with me. It's good that I can engage with this type of person.”

But Jan will have to ‘excite' every one of those ‘missing millions' in Tauranga to erode the majority – and she would still come up short. 'Look, there are sufficient numbers of the disenfranchised people right across Tauranga, not just Merivale – who are struggling and hurting at the moment – to turn out, vote and swing an election.”

And she cites the example of her own sons – 20-year-olds raised on the other side of the tracks from Merivale in the relatively swanky shelter of Matua. Home also to Simon Bridges.

'They have the potential to do very well in their lives and yet they have given up all hope of home ownership. And that's very sad. When I was their age I had absolute dreams of home ownership and those dreams were realised.”

She insists her appeal, her profile and regard for the city doesn't stop at the first roundabout in Merivale – even though she 'loves the people and loves the community there”.

'I've been in Tauranga 11 years. I'm passionate about it. I live in a suburb that is poles apart from the one I work in, and I care about them equally. I want to be, and can be, a voice for all people.”

Jan believes she's starting from a position of advantage. 'I'm a local, people know who I am and what I stand for.” In 2014, her predecessor Dr Rachel Jones, considered by some to be a carpetbagger, didn't get traction. And the Labour vote vaporised nationally, recording the party's lowest share in any MMP election to date.

'But I will turn that around by getting out there and having the conversations – getting our policies and my values out to the undecideds and the disenfranchised. I'd like to think we will be connecting more with the electorate than what we have now.”

Jan says she's well-versed with the hard-nosed politics of Wellington through her work on the national executive member of the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa Education Union – a group dedicated to advancing the interests of teachers and principals.

'Hard-nosed? I'm actually the principal of a decile one school and I understand and cope with difficulty.” Difficulties big and small – because just outside the office where the principal is talking to The Weekend Sun, a handsome little rooster has just discovered he's lost one of his shoes and it's home time. He's even offered a treat if he turns up on time tomorrow. Jan will also offer sweeteners to the electorate no doubt.

For the moment its business as usual for the new Labour Party candidate, who is also a consummate juggler.

Last year she got up at 3am every day to study for a masters degree, which she completed with first class honours. 'So I don't have any qualms about running a school and political campaign in tandem.”

And when the time comes, about six weeks out from the election, she'll step aside from Merivale School as dictated by the electoral rules. Her future will then be decided by the electorate in September.

In the meantime, the teacher has put the minister on notice. It will be an interesting stoush.