SEA Snitch, a whistleblower in the department's district office in Bathurst, from where School Education Director Peter Harvey is based claims that the department deliberately neglected its duty of care surrounding allegations made against Lee Churches.
SEA Snitch claims that towards the middle of 2009 a letter was received by Peter Harvey with photographs of Drew Churches and another young male drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes at the Churches family home and engaging in high-risk activities such as showing off on an abandoned building in Bathurst. SEA Snitch claims these are similar to the ones leaked to Sydney Indymedia by a Carenne Special School staff member in October last year. SEA Snitch says that the photographs were date stamped 2008, at which time Drew would have been just 15.
SEA Snitch told Carenne Gate that the department had a duty to investigate Lee for child abuse and neglect even though the allegations involved her own son. He claims that Lynette Duncan was also aware of the allegations and deliberately hid them from the Employee Performance and Conduct division of the department.
SEA Snitch said:
"What should have happened is that Lee should have been stood down pending investigation, the investigation would have been swift given the photographic evidence and she should have then been sacked. It shows that there is a history of child neglect even with her own son and she is unfit to teach."SEA Snitch alleges that Ms Churches has received special treatment from Peter Harvey and Carole McDiarmid who are protecting her. He also claims that both are aware that she is "carennetruth" and a plethora of other aliases on this blog.
