Leis shafted by KLAN

Coleen Leis has been the latest victim of the Carenne Special School KLAN, following a finding by EPAC that she engaged in misconduct. As a result of the finding, Mrs Leis has been forcibly transferred to Denison College - Kelso High Campus.

The investigation, carried out by Malcolm Barnett was initiated after a complaint by Angie Cranston, an aide at the school known for her constant bullying and the making of complaints to serve her own interest.

In Term 3, Cranston made a complaint to Barnett who was relieving as manager of EPAC's serious misconduct team alleging that Leis had leaked information about the school, was incompetent, had bullied her and was abusive towards her and other staff. Cranston's complaint came after an incident where Leis observed Cranston dragging a student by his hair along a corridor.

Leis intervened and took the student to Neil Moon's office to report the incident, only to see nothing happen and face departmental charges herself. Cranston's claims were backed up by statements from Neil Moon, Margaret Rowe, Michael Auld and Melinda Gavin.

Leis was informed of the investigation result in November and told that she either had to accept a transfer to Kelso High or resign.

Carenne Gate can reveal that the investigation, carried out under the guidance of Malcolm Barnett was not carried out properly and failed to consider Cranston's short but checkered history at Carenne. Staff at Bathurst SEA informed EPAC that Cranston had been the subject of a number of workers compensation claims and OH&S reports due to her relentless threats, intimidation and harassment.

EPAC was aware that Cranston was part of the reason Barbara Woolfe retired, when Cranston told staff she would expose Woolfe for not reporting therapy not being done on a student which ADHC had paid for, despite also being the aide in the class. They were also aware of Cranston being the cause of a nervous breakdown suffered by Kelly Thompson, a promising special educator who had to be relocated to Bathurst West Public and the refusal of all staff except Terry Neal to work with her last year.

In just four years at Carenne, Cranston has been the subject of many complaints and has been reported on this blog for:

• Making students walk back to the school unsupervised after a teacher fell down a drain,
• Being involved in corrupt excursion arrangements
• Taking a sexual device to a school fundraiser
• Stealing items from the school
• Inappropriately touching a student, and
  
• Not properly supervising students.

Despite objections by Neil Moon, officials at SEA have called for Angie Cranston to be sacked only to be told by EPAC it is not possible. It is apparent that EPAC are relying on unreliable information from a woman with a particular agenda to push.

Steve Minshull abuses staff

Carenne Special School klansmen turned whistleblower nedkelly has contacted Carenne Gate after being abused by Capebase Blayney bus driver Steve Minshull on Friday afternoon. nedkelly claims this abuse was leveled at staff in front of students by the driver.

nedkelly claims that Mr Minshull said "you c---s are always running late, this is the second day in a row you have been late. Too bad if I have something else to do. You need to get your f---ing act together."

nedkelly claims that Mr Minshull's aggression and language upset nearby students, with a number of them having to be settled by staff. nedkelly said that Mr Minshull had to pick up a number of students from a local Bathurst school before he went to Carenne and he arrived at Carenne at 2:50PM most days, expecting staff to change their routine to suit him.

"This other school would be having to pull students out of class early just to suit this moron's schedule. He needs to be told that he isn't the boss and he has no right telling us what to do," said nedkelly.

According to nedkelly and Horatio, Steve Minshull behaved the same when he drove the Hartley bus.

More evidence that Lee and Drew Churches post on this blog

It has been known for months that Lee Churches is a number of different users on this blog who bully, harass and threaten parents and staff who raise concerns about Carenne Special School. The Carenne assistant principal has also leaked information she illegally obtained from the police to try and discredit those who speak out about Carenne.

Last night, a user claiming to be Drew Churches posted defending his mother claiming that neither of them had posted comments on this blog. Unfortunately for Drew, the logs show otherwise. Logs show that Drew or Lee had been posting well before his rant.

In the past we have records of a computer running Windows XP used by Lee but last night, postings were made from an Apple.

It provides those investigating the people behind the posts on this blog with further evidence that the bully is in fact Lee Churches.

DET heavyweights visit Carenne to discuss Carenne Gate

Yesterday afternoon, relieving School Education Director Kate White, human resources manager Peter Seligman and legal officer Patrick Quinn met with Carenne Special School staff to discuss this blog.

Prior to their arrival, Carenne Principal Neil Moon told staff to make sure they complained about the blog and the effect it is having on staff. Mr Moon also told staff that they needed to tell the high level departmental staff that they feel as though the department is ignoring staff concerns and leaving Carenne to fend for itself.

One attendee at the meeting told Carenne Gate that Mr Quinn said the legal department was close to a "breakthrough" on closing the blog down while Mr Seligman claimed that he knew no Carenne staff were on the blog or feeding authors information and that it had all came from external sources. Of course, readers of this blog would know this to be completely delusional. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Mr Moon continues to claim that his staff aren't leaking information despite Carenne staff supplying me with copies of meeting minutes and staff bulletins.

If the blog is full of lies and misinformation like Ms White, Mr Seligman and Mr Quinn claim why is it that as soon as something is posted on this blog action is taken to fix it? Why is it that Neil Moon feels the need to counter it with his own lies in the local news?

The department has been made aware of Michael Auld's leaks and use of confidential information and has decided to do nothing and its obvious to any intelligent person that "carennetruth" and her aliases is a member of the Carenne Special School executive. It doesn't take much to figure out (even without her public admissions) that "carennetruth" is Lee Churches. The department has been provided with logs indicating the IP address of "carennetruth" and her associated aliases and has done nothing.

The plain and simple fact is that if there were no problems at Carenne there would be no need to discuss it in public. Instead, because of the cover-ups, lies, abuse and corruption there is a need to hold the department and individuals responsible accountable for their actions.

"Torture chamber" in Ros Luther's classroom

Several weeks ago, it was commented on this blog that Michael Auld was planning on misappropriating Rudd computer funding to create a "sensory room" at Carenne. It was alleged that he must have siphoned the money off elsewhere because the room hadn't been created. It was also alleged that Ros Luther and Dianne Klavins had been locking a severely autistic student in a storeroom.

It has been learned by Carenne Gate that the storeroom in Ros Luther's classroom has been converted to a mock sensory room. The room, which is around 2 metres by 3 metres according to staff has students locked in there for up to one hour at a time while they are observed using a camera mounted inside the room.

Concerned Carenne staff have contacted Carenne Gate and reported that students are terrified of the room due to its small size and the items inside it. One staff member commented -
"Tuesday afternoon, Di Klavins was bragging to me about how they were watching this student that they usually sit on in the room on the camera bashing at the door wanting to get out, laughing at him. When they let him out they called him 'chicken' and when he had a melt down placed him back into the room until his parents picked him up."

Another staff member said -
"I approached Neil Moon about it and told him that it was nothing more than a torture chamber. That is all it is. They put kids in there and watch them on a camera, laughing at them when they freak out. It's sick and twisted. It's another of Michael and Ros' torture methods,"

"When I told Lee about it she was horrified."

It is yet another example of the complete and utter incompetence of staff at Carenne Special School.

The Carenne 'Mafia'

After a day's work, the blog has been restored with no content lost.

This morning between 7AM and 8AM the attack promised by "ringostar" on Thursday against this blog was carried out. Ringostar had posted a threat that by Saturday morning the site would be no more and attributed this to the Department of Education and Training's legal team being at the school.

The attack was carried out by a user using the name "omerta", a word used by the Sicilian Mafia to refer to their code of silence. A sign saying "Stop Snitching" was placed on the front page of the site with all other articles deleted.

The attack was carried out by an amateur who managed to add themselves to the administrator's list of the blog and deleted items in the administration section of the blog. They forgot to remove their account name and email address from this list when the attack was complete. A non-broadband connection was used by the attacker.

As the site is located in the United States, authorities are investigating.

Carenne staff bully driver using faeces

Also posted to Sydney Indymedia

On Monday February 8 2010, students from Carenne School in Bathurst were forced to travel on a bus between Bathurst and Lithgow after staff had placed faeces on the front seat. According to witness accounts, a number of Carenne School staff were standing around and laughing as the driver got in and found the stinking mess.

On a blog that evening, one of the staff posted asking whether the driver liked her present that was left for her. The story then came out that someone had placed faeces on the seat of the bus in an attempt to bully the driver.

Students then had to travel from Bathurst to Lithgow in a bus stinking of faeces.

It further demonstrates bullying and threats at a school full of problems.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 10/02/2010:
Parents have contacted the principal of Carenne Public School, Neil Moon and Bathurst Schools Director Peter Harvey about the bullying of a driver using human faeces and the transport of students in a bus smelling of faeces for three days.

The schools director told parents that the bus was vandalised and the vandals must have put the faeces in the bus. Carenne principal Neil Moon told parents that a student had an "accident" on the front seat of the bus. Posts on this website indicate otherwise.

DET computer used to post to Carenne Gate

Despite warnings from Carenne Special School executive staff, the Bathurst schools director and regional director Carole McDiarmid a DET computer was used to post to this website at 4:13PM on 1 February 2010.

Due to the posting of a person's home address in a posting which appeared to threaten a whistleblower or parent using this site, I had it traced by an access request which discovered it to be from the source address 153.107.97.152.

Peter Harvey was contacted about the posting but hasn't replied.

It is believed that the posting came from a source in the department other than Carenne Special School as I am told this site is blocked from being accessed there.

Carenne Special School teacher accused of making threats against whistleblower

A teacher of Carenne Special School who has been accused of involvement in the Carenne Gate Affair has been accused of making threats against whistle blower Brian Carter and his son Nathan by the Carenne Saviours.

The Carenne Saviours claim that Mr Auld believes the Carter family are responsible for complaints about corruption, child abuse and malfeasance at Carenne Special School involving himself and a number of other staff, which have become known as the "klan".

The saviours claim that Mr Auld has been trying to have Nathan Carter dismissed from the Department of Education and Training since the beginning of 2009 and has made a number of complaints about him. They also claim he has attempted to implicate Mr Carter and other people whom he has named as "snitches" in confidentiality breaches.

Following claims on Sydney Indymedia that Nathan Carter could be returning to Carenne Special School, Mr Auld made a threat that should he return to Carenne he would assault him. This threat was made in front of a number of Carenne Special School staff and was made known to the school principal, Terry Neal by a number of people.

Following the second Bathurst protest on 11 December 2009 and the unveiling of the Carenne Gate truck, the saviours have said that Mr Auld has threatened that he will assault the Carter family because that is the "only way that it will shut them up".

Victimisation against staff who speak out emerges in other Western Region Schools

Allegations that staff who speak out against the Department of Education and Training in the Western Region of NSW are victimised having done so have emerged following incidents at Kelso Public School, West Bathurst Public School and Dubbo College. They claim that those close to regional director Carole McDiarmid are responsible for the victimisation.

Staff at West Bathurst Public School were told they face possible disciplinary action if they speak out about a number of serious issues at that school.

At Dubbo College, the NSW Teacher's Federation claimed that there was a better chance of being listened to rather than being dismissed as a group of people who were complaining for the sake of complaining when the minister became involved than when they were dealing with senior DET officials. As with the Carenne Special School, those who speak out against the department at Dubbo College must remain anonymous to avoid retribution from senior DET officials.

It appears there are very serious problems with the Western Region DET.

Lee Churches and the racist "drunk aboriginal" comment

From comments on Sydney Indymedia

We have previously concluded from IP address comparison between emails sent from Lee Churches' private email address to Jake Rosenberg (a Carenne Special School staff member) and those sent from "Leanne Dreww" to Indymedia reporters that Lee Churches is carennetruth.

Re: Carennestrewth
On October 18th, 2009 carennetruth2 says:
A quick question, I think I know who you are - are you aboriginal?
Lee
On October 18th, 2009 Mungindiman says:
How kind of you to ask. Nice to know you. Are you Aboriginal too?
Re: Lee
On October 18th, 2009 carennetruth2 says:
Were you dismissed from the department around 2004? If I
remember rightly you had an alcohol problem and used to turn
up to work drunk.
Of course, I could be wrong. I might have the wrong person.
Re: Lee
On October 18th, 2009 savecarenne says:
This is disgusting. You make allegations that someone you
claim is gay is a child molestor and now you make a claim
that someone who is aboriginal is an alcoholic. This is
disgraceful.

Paul Knight claims Jake Rosenberg is Brian Carter, makes threats, calls him a "rock spider"

The chairman of Carenne Support's board of directors, Paul Knight has responded angrily to information from "Jake Rosenberg" in relation to leaks from within his organisation.

In his first response, Mr Knight tells Rosenberg "if you are a real man lets catch up and sort things out man to man."

Rosenberg alleges that she responded asking if Mr Knight was threatening a woman. It is common knowledge that the alias Jake Rosenberg is used by a female Carenne Saviour.

Mr Knight's response indicated that he believed Jake Rosenberg was Brian Carter and that he had put up with "12 months of heartache for one reason, A bus driver lets call him Jake did the wrong thing and was sacked. If this driver lets call him Jake or Brian wasnt doing the wrong thing we wouldnt have all this shit going on would we".

Mr Knight then goes on to say that Jake Rosenberg, who it is clear at this point he believes to be Mr Carter will get what is coming to him and that he should "hide under the rock you spider" indicating he is calling Rosenberg a rock spider.

This further demonstrates the types of thugs and bullies the Carenne Saviours are dealing with every day and the character of people that Gerard Martin, Member for Bathurst is protecting.

Carenne Special School continues to call the police on students

I have received reports that Carenne Special School are continuing to call the Police on students. Today, Simone Russell called the Police on a student who ran from the school to the park across the road because he would ignored directions from a teacher.

When the Police arrived, the student became more defiant and refused to follow their instructions.

It demonstrates that once again that terrorising special needs students with the Police doesn't work.

Carennestrewth is high on her own self importance

I received the following email today from the address Sydney Indymedia has already tied to Lee Churches:

I'm still standing‏

From:	Leeanne Dreww (leedrew1@live.com)
Sent:	Saturday, 28 November 2009 1:14:15 PM
To:

Isn't it amazing that you people rant and rave about me having a livejournal and how bad it is but your great Sydney Indymedia is gone. The police have your servers so it is going to be down a very long time isn't it.

What a shame.

It shows that Miss Churches will do anything to intimidate people. Fortunately I am not one of the students in her care or one of the staff she bullies at work.

Whistleblower's car attacked

Posted November 19th, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

Bathurst whistleblower Brian Carter had significant damage done to his vehicle last night when vandals threw two rocks at it damaging the rear door and the side of the vehicle. Photographs taken of the damage seem to indicate that the vandals bowled the rocks at the vehilce and were attempting to smash its windows but missed.

At the time of the attack, the vehicle was parked between two others and neither of these were targeted. It is believed that the way the attack was carried out that those involved knew the area was under video surveillance.

The attack follows claims by the Carenne Saviours that the group at Carenne Special School known as the Klan had threatened serious harm would come to Mr Carter.

Indymedia volunteers will door knock the area today asking for information about any suspicious activity in the area overnight and Police investigations are continuing. Anyone with information is urged to phone Bathurst Police on 02 6332 8699.

Police called on students with Autism

Posted October 22nd, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

It was observed during a visit on Tuesday to Browning Street, Bathurst by a well-respected contributor to this site that the Police were at Carenne Special School. It has been reported that the Police attended the school after a student with Autism allegedly assaulted a teacher.

The student was unfamiliar with the new classroom environment and the change in routine and acted out. Those working in special education with such students should know that such things can happen to students with this disorder and should know how to diffuse the situation. Instead, the Police were called which scared and agitated the student further. Such intimidation tactics are clearly unacceptable and both the Police and School leadership team need to seriously evaluate the strategy.

Apparently, this is not the first time such an incident has happened. Another student with Autism had lashed out at his teacher in similar circumstances earlier in the year and was threatened by the Police. He was then suspended from school for a long period of time. When the student returned to school, he was quite agitated and confused and was only allowed to attend for several hours per week until he "settled back in." Staff observed that the arrangements were quite distressing to the student.

It has been alleged that some staff overstate incidences of violence by students in order to take leave. In these cases however, the student is still needlessly punished for an incident which was not as serious as claimed.

I am told that until the arrival of Lynette Duncan as principal at the beginning of this year, it was rare for students to be suspended. More students have been suspended in 2009 than had been over the period 2004-2008. In the past, it is claimed that the former principal, Terrence Mahony used to follow a time-out procedure where students could sit with him in his office and discuss their problems until they had settled down. Staff believe this to be a more effective strategy than suspension and using the police to threaten and intimidate students.

One staff member has said that she was told the next time a particular student "acted up" he would be charged by Police.

It would appear that the users of this website and whistleblowers are not the only ones threatened with the Police, students are too.

Terry Mahony threatened Brian Carter if he took action in the IRC

Posted November 1st, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

When whistle blower Brian Carter was dismissed from Carenne Support as a bus driver, he indicated to Carenne Special School Principal and Director of Carenne Support Ltd that he would make a claim in the Industrial Relations Commission for unfair dismissal. At that time, Mr Carter was told that to do so would bar him from being on the grounds of Carenne Special School. This claim by Mr Carter is supported by Mr Mahony's claim to EPAC Investigator Mick Eccleston.

This threat ended Mr Carter's association with Carenne Special School as a regular volunteer and casual employee.

When Mr Carter raised the question of how Mr Mahony could effectively ban him from being on the premises of Carenne Special School for no reason other than suing Carenne Support with Peter Harvey, he was reported to the Department of Education and Training's Employee Performance and Conduct Unit for staff misconduct.

Instead of investigating why Mr Mahony had made the threat without consulting the DET Legal Branch, the department began vilifying Mr Carter.

In his discussion with EPAC, Mr Mahony made a false claim about a speeding fine Mr Carter had received. In his record, Mr Eccleston wrote:

Towards the end of 2008 Mr Carter was fined for speeding when he was driving students.

The Carenne Saviours claim to have been told by another Carenne Support Director, Lee Churches that Mr Carter received a speeding fine and did not tell Mr Mahony and Carenne Support only became aware of it after a check was ran on Mr Carter's driving record.

An entry into Mr Mahony's diary dated 18 February 2008 tells a different story.

Why did Mr Mahony tell EPAC the fine was received at the end of 2008? Is it because as one of the reasons for Mr Carter's dismissal it had happened ten months prior?

Carenne Support claims "child protection issue" in court, despite previously claiming the contrary

Posted November 1st, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

The organisation at the centre of the Carenne Gate affair, Carenne Support Limited changed its view on whether the transportation of a student to Lithgow return as a reward was a child protection issue or not when it raised the matter in the Industrial Relations Commission.

In a recount of the day in court, NSW Department of Education and Training Legal Officer Patrick Quinn stated that he told the commissioner:

After providing C. Cambridge with our side of events including the safety of students and the child protection issues surrounding the unauthorised transportation of a student...

This contrasts with information provided to Mick Eccleston in a telephone discussion between former Carenne Special School principal and Carenne Support Director, Terry Mahony. In his record, Mr Eccleston writes:

Mr Mahoney (sic) stated there were no child protection issues it was a staff conduct matter.

In a discussion with Peter Harvey and Mick Eccleston, Mr Harvey reiterated this view as represented in this record from Mr Eccleston:

[Mr Harvey] agreed that there were no child protection issues and that it was a matter of staff conduct.

If this is the case, why did Mr Mahony, represented by Mr Quinn go to the Industrial Relations Commission and claim that it was in fact a child protection issue?

There is also a dispute as to whether or not the transportation of a student was "unauthorised", the Carenne Saviours claim that the arrangement was implemented under Terry Mahony and Ros Luther's guidance as a reward for the student. It only became an issue when Mr Mahony was allegedly blackmailed by a number of staff in order to have Mr Carter's employment terminated.

Indymedia user jrosenberg claims that everyone at the school knew about it, meaning if it was a child protection issue why was it not reported?

Are some staff at Carenne Special School supporting state sponsored terrorism?

Posted November 10th, 2009 by mark rowney on Sydney Indymedia

Dear Readers,

I feel it is totally wrong to be getting peoples private information from the NSW Police to harm or control people.I have very deep concerns about this type of situation based on historical facts that it can be devastating for the victims.

I ask any staff,former staff,parents,students that have heard anything about this terrible situation to come forward on this post and explain what they have heard about this incideous situation of finding out personal details about people through NSW Police.

If people come forward here a better picture can be developed prior to entering a complaint process in NSW.The complaint process will not share the information if there are multiple complaintants.History has shown me that certain NSW Oversight Authorities may have multiple complaints on the same person and they fail to act or advise other complainants of the existance of the other complainants.

Having the NSW Police providing information in the mannor outlined is certainly concerning.I have heard that there has been other more direct efforts of Police Resources and please come forward and explain those actions.

Parents feel bullied by staff over computer funding

Posted November 20th, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

This afternoon I have been contacted by several angered parents relating to the short notice about a meeting to be held at 6:00PM on Monday relating to computer funding at Carenne Special School. Parents have received a letter from Michael Auld informing them of the meeting and asking them to approve the purchase of computer software instead of take-home laptops like other high schools.

The letter states:

The school's technology committee has had discussions with Carenne staff and therapists in regards to what technology would best suit Carenne students.

According to the Carenne Saviours, the Carenne technology committee is made up largely of Carenne Klan members. This statement by Mr Auld indicates that once again Carenne Support has interfered in school business (as they employ therapists). It is doubtful that the Carenne P&C was consulted, despite Mr Auld being at the meeting earlier this week.

Parents are particularly concerned about this statement by Mr Auld, in light of the numerous allegations relating to financial management at the school:

The technology that the sthool will be applying for will be integrated within the school curriculum and will become part of the school's resources.

Mr Auld requests that if parents are happy to apply for alternative funding to sign the consent form. This is despite there being no mention in the letter of exactly what Carenne Special School intends to apply for. The consent form parents are asked to sign states that it is the principal's responsibility to discuss this alternative funding with parents. Parents sign the form to indicate that they discussed their child's needs with the principal.

Parents must not sign this form unless they have discussed this with the principal. Mr Auld is not the school principal.

Mr Auld has told parents that if they disagree with his proposal they must attend the meeting to voice their discontent. Parents claim that the time was deliberately chosen as it is around dinner time and few parents would attend to voice their opposition. They allege to have been told by teachers that if they didn't agree the school would miss out on the funding.

Parents have indicated that they feel as though they are being bullied and held to ransom by the school with this funding.

These new allegations follow previous claims on this site by a parent that Mr Auld had intended on changing what was to be purchased using these funds without parental consultation.