There's something about Peter Richards

It would seem that Peter Richards, a teacher at the problematic Carenne School is like a cat with nine lives, being protected by someone high up in the department.

Peter Richards' behaviour first came to SEA staff's attention when he was reported for using inappropriate behaviour management techniques. A parent complained that they had gone to the school and observed their son sitting at a desk outside the classroom with one arm tied to the desk. The parent untied their child and had a heated argument with Mr Richards.

When Lyn Duncan was asked about the arrangement, she denied that it happened and claimed that she was aware of who made the complaint and that they were known to staff at the school for being liars.

Complaints have been made about Richards leaving his classroom through the middle of the day, leaving students under the sole supervision of the class' aide so that he can go outside the school for a cigarette. This is a serious breach of both the department's duty of care to students and child protection guidelines.

Richards was then under the spotlight when it was discovered that he had been having an extra-marital affair with an aide at the school - Prue Luffman. This was not behaviour which upheld the reputation of the department or acting ethically and responsibly and breached the code of conduct. Despite this, nothing was done about it apart from Prue Luffman being offered no further work at the school.

In what should have been the straw that broke the camel's back, it was learned in April that Peter Richards had a drug problem, being a habitual marijuana smoker for years. He was admitted to hospital to get off the drugs but later relapsed, with his addiction being so bad that staff at Carenne have smelt the smell of marijuana on him when he is at school.

Richards' use of marijuana breaches the code of conduct, yet Peter Harvey has done nothing about it. The department has in the past dismissed employees who were charged with drink driving, claiming that it proved that they had an unaddressed alcohol problem.

Why Peter Richards receives special treatment compared to other teachers in the district remains a mystery.

Parents may be called upon to keep class budgets afloat

According to information and documents received from Carenne Special School whistleblowers, a number of classes have used their budget for the year and now parents may be called upon to keep key school programs such as cooking afloat.

According to the information, Michael Auld, Peter Richards, Laurie Healey, Nadine Dwyer and Ros Luther have exhausted their class budget for this year, with another three months to go in the school year. According to an email between Helen Windsor, Carenne's new administrator and Neil Moon leaked to Carenne Gate last week several classes are close to or have exceeded their budget and parents may need to contribute money towards independent living schools programs for those classes if the programs are to continue until the end of the year.

According to one Carenne Saviour, a conversation took place between Mr Moon and Mrs Windsor last week where she told him that she was concerned about the amount of money Michael Auld had been putting down for work experience activities associated with the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Hatho told Carenne Gate that the problems were associated with Mrs Windsor not being creative enough -

"This write your class name on every receipt is rubbish, when Simone was SAM, if one class' budget was exceeded she would just allocate that to a class which wasn't and which had fewer costs, that way important programs can continue, she is just not being creative enough."

The comment by hatho indicates that under Mrs Russell's administration, much of the school's funding was being diverted away from where it should have been going. Instead of allowing teachers who routinely go over their budget to siphon funds from elsewhere they should be more careful of the public's money.

A saviour told Carenne Gate that Kelly Thompson had one of the best systems for classroom funds. "Kelly actually had the class deliver newspapers as part of both their PE and to receive money for classroom activities and reward activities. For other activities she would have the parents make a very small contribution which if not received would exclude the student from that activity like an ordinary school. Auld and Churches hated this because they said she was being too tough, but she claimed it taught the students to be responsible."

As we have seen far too often at Carenne, a few get a free ride and special treatment to the detriment of others.

Saviours concerned about Jindabyne excursion arrangements, claim corrupt staff allocation made by Moon

A number of Carenne Special School staff are concerned about the supervision arrangements for the planned excursion to Jindabyne later in the week. According to staff, Peter Richards is not medically fit to supervise students so far from home and Angela Cranston is someone who is known to neglect her duties as an aide.

One of the Carenne Saviours told Carenne Gate -
"I am really concerned for both Peter and the kids, Peter has been having frequent epileptic seizures of late and it worries me that he will be responsible for children on this excursion. Another thing that worries me is if he drives and has a fit, even though he has been having fits at least twice a week and he still drives. What if he has a fit while driving on the highway, what about the students on the bus."

Another Carenne whistleblower told Carenne Gate that Angela Cranston was only selected to go on the excursion because she took an extra week's holiday in June for which she was unpaid and that the excursion would entitle her to extra pay which would cover the excursion. The whistleblower said "it's another case of Neil Moon looking after his friends, he couldn't care less about anyone else, he looks after Angie."

The whistleblower also claimed that Angela Cranston's conduct earlier this year when she neglected her duties as an aide and sent a group of students unsupervised back to the school after a teacher was injured while delivering circulars showed she was incapable of providing adequate supervision. "Just think if she leaves kids unsupervised in Jindabyne, it's frightening. She couldn't care less about students, she just wants the money."

Another whistleblower said "This is a woman who thinks its acceptable to supply a child with cigarettes, a child who was just 8 at the time. How can this woman, a child abuser be trusted on an excursion?"

Police claim they are being fed with false information

According to a whistleblower from the police force who must remain anonymous due to the possibility of harassment from others has said that police are being misled by Carenne staff following the admission by senior departmental staff on Monday that most of the information on this blog was being supplied by staff of the school.

The officer said that Neil Moon, Simone Russell, Lee Churches, Peter Richards, Kelly Thompson and Michael Auld have made complaints to Police and said that they claimed that the blog is full of lies and is being fed by people outside of the school. The officer claims that they were told by several Carenne staff that the department has conducted an investigation and found that nobody at Carenne was supplying information or posting on this blog. The officer said that Simone and Scott Russell had made claims to police that they hired a private investigator who had traced everything to Brian Carter. The officer told Carenne Gate -

"It's pretty bad when you have a senior police officer making allegations he knows are false to try and set up someone they don't like."

The officer told Carenne Gate he was concerned about the detectives who were investigating this blog -

"One is a friend of the Russell family who helped Scott get his promotion, another is a close friend of Mark Smith's and the third has a grudge against certain people involved in this mess,"

"The police investigation will get nowhere because it is engineered to protected certain people and nothing else."