Parents demand investigation of St Brigid’s management
TWENTY-FIVE staff members have reportedly left St Brigid’s Primary School in Bridgetown in the past four years.
So many children are being withdrawn from the Catholic Church school that other schools are considering restructuring classes to cope with new enrolments.
And more Catholic school children are travelling to Manjimup to look for better education.
Concerned St Brigid’s parents — who did not want to be publicly identified — are alleging poor educational standards and bullying of staff and parents at the Catholic School.
They are concerned about the impact this is having on the school community and the school’s reputation, they said. They are also receiving little acknowledgement of their concerns from Catholic education authorities, despite representing 20 per cent of the school’s parent population.
Director of Catholic Education Western Australia, Ron Dullard, has declined to meet them and St Brigid’s school principal Ms Monique Field has declared: “I cannot react to broad allegations and innuendo.”
The parents, who have been agitating behind the scene for two months, have finally gone public.
“We have concerns about the high staff turnover, the quality of education standards and the high number of families leaving our school,” they said.
“These issues have been raised with the school board, the church parish and the Catholic Education Office, but no one has felt it necessary to investigate why this is happening,” they complained.
The concerned parents believe that the frequent staff changes and upheavals are having a direct impact on the quality of education at the school.
“Evidence exists of children, either currently at the school or through appraisal at a new school, being greatly behind their required academic levels,” the concerned parents have stated.
“This issue is also having a direct impact on the enrolments at other schools within our town and the district.”
They have requested an independent agent to investigate what is causing such a large turnover of staff and families at the school.
Their request has been ignored by the Catholic Education Office so they were seeking to involve Education Minister Dr Liz Constable, they said.
State school
Bridgetown Primary School principal, Mike Fletcher, said his state government school had received some new applications but was already under accommodation pressure.
“If students live in our catchment area we welcome them,” he said, “but the school is close to capacity with 372 students currently enrolled. “If other students enroll we will need to, in consultation with the Department of Education and our school community, consider a restructure of the school to make new classes.”
Liaison
Bridgeto wn shire councillor Stephanie De Vaney — who has agreed to act as a liaison between the parents and the Catholic school system — has asked the WA Catholic Education director, Ron Dullard, to investigate the parents’ concerns .
“These parents have approached me because they do not believe they are being provided with the correct channels at the school level to deal with their issues,” Cr De Vaney said late last week.
“I have had discussions with some 20 per cent of the school’s families to date and I now hold grave concerns for the wellbeing of the teachers and students at the school. Many of these parents are concerned about retribution to their children and themselves which is one of the reasons they are wishing to remain anonymous.
“I am aware of the requirements according to the Dispute and Complaint Resolution Policy for the Catholic Education Commission of WA (CECWA).
“I believe that a number of the parents with concerns had approached the principal a few months ago for a meeting, in accordance with this policy, to discuss their issues but this was refused.
“I believe the refusal was because the principal insisted on seeing parents ‘on a singular basis and with single issues relating only to a single child’,” Cr De Vaney said.
“My understanding, according to this policy, is that when parties are having difficulties achieving a resolution at the school level, or if they have concerns directly relating to the principal, they may request the assistance of the Director of Catholic Education.”
“I believe the concerned parents have followed this policy. The parents are looking for an investigation into why there is such a high turnover of staff and now families leaving the school,” Cr De Vaney said.
“They have also requested data showing the turnover of staff and families at their school in the previous four years so they may be able to compare these statistics to see if there is actually a problem or not.”
Response
MR Dullard wrote back that he noted the parents’ concerns and “takes these matters very seriously”.
But he was not prepared to meet them at this stage or provide the requested information on staff turnover and number of families which have left the school.
The parents’ letter to him made “generalised statements” and “does not provide sufficient detail for him to have the matters investigated”, he said.
Mr Dullard told the Donnybrook-Bridge-town Mail he had written to each and every family asking them to raise any allegations that they could substantiate including the time, date and place.
“Until they’re prepared to follow this procedure, I won’t be doing anything,” he said.
When the Mail asked about student numbers at the school, Mr Dullard said enrolments had increased by four since 2006.
“There is innuendo and misrepresentation going on and I think these people need to think about what’s good for their children.
“When they put these things specifically in writing, I can then specifically investigate them — but I can’t investigate wild accusations and innuendo, I need concrete incidents.
“The school board was supportive of the principal,” he said.
“They’re the people who are elected to look after the school.
“This needs to stop.”
The school’s principal, Ms Field, said that if parents were concerned by a specific event they needed to raise it with her.
“This process has not been undertaken,” she said.
“Equally I have sent out an invitation to meet with parents who may have concerns.
“I have also invited an experienced principal to be part of these discussions to assist me to address their concerns.
“Apparently parents have not come to speak with me specifically and as a result I cannot react to broad allegations and innuendo. I can only invite people to speak with me.”
In relation to the number of staff who have left the school in the past four years, Ms Field said two had left “in unhappy situations” and both were “under performance management”.
The other departures were “normal turnover”.
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