Les Ross threatens Carenne staff

Owner of Assisted School Travel operator Capebase, Les Ross has contacted staff at Carenne over the weekend complaining about an email sent to operators by Kerry Jackson. Ross told the person that he believed that the email had come from someone at the school or Brian Carter.

The staff member, who was distressed by the call claims that she was threatened by Ross and told that when he finds out who wrote the email that he will go through the whole school until he sorts them out. He threatened that he would make sure that they could never make complaints about him again and would break their neck.

The incident shows that Les Ross believes he is beyond the rules of the system and can do what he likes.

Jrosenberg claims that the department's child protection unit threatened her

A Carenne Special School whistleblower, jrosenberg alleges that the education department's Employee Performance and Conduct unit (which includes the Serious Misconduct Unit and Child Protection Unit) threatened her for making a series of anonymous and serious complaints anonymously about her concerns at Carenne.

Rosenberg told Carenne Gate that she had previously made complaints about certain staff at Carenne in the same manner and that it was encouraged by Meredith Brown, Peter Harvey and Gail Vasic. She was told by her union that the only way to be certain of protection was to make the complaints anonymously.

Almost one year on from the threat, Rosenberg has decided to go public about the threat made by Malcolm Barnett, who describes himself in the email as "Chief Investigator".

In the email, Barnett tells Rosenberg that he is concerned about her continued claims for anonymity and that failure to come forward and assist the department could be considered to be misconduct. Rosenberg believes that Barnett was threatening to have her investigated for misconduct due to making the complaints.

The NSW Ombudsman acknowledges that complaints may be made anonymously and that anonymous complaints still receive protection under whistleblower legislation. There was no reason why the complaints could not have been dealt with by Barnett, he instead turned a blind eye to them and threatened the whistleblower involved. Mr Barnett should be criminally charged under the whistleblower legislation, but as we have seen on this very blog, the authorities are uncomfortable in taking action against certain DET staff.

When Rosenberg asked Barnett what protection could be offered to her if she came forward, Barnett didn't reply further showing how disinterested he was in the complaints.

Rosenberg states that by this stage she had heard a number of remarks made about her pseudonym Jake Rosenberg by Lee Churches, Simone Russell and Lyn Duncan. Some of these included threats to choke Rosenberg, to make sure she was dismissed, to ruin her or to attack people in her family.

The behaviour of Mr Barnett and senior Carenne staff show that they will do anything to suppress complaints.

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 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".

Grant Marley of the SMU refuses to supply information of investigating Police

Following claims by Bathurst MP Gerard Martin to one of my Public Trust Journalism colleagues that the Police were looking into matters surrounding Carenne Special School, it was further claimed at a meeting at Carenne Special School on Monday that the Police were planning action against Sydney Indymedia.

I have contacted Grant Marley of the Department of Education and Training's Serious Misconduct Unit, requesting the names of the officers allegedly involved in these inquiries. I indicated to Mr Marley that I was more than happy to speak with Police and to provide them with evidence that Michael Auld and Lee Churches are leaking confidential information from the school.

Mr Marley responded:
From: Marley, Grant (Grant.Marley@det.nsw.edu.au)
Sent: Tuesday, 24 November 2009 11:04:18 AM
To: 'Julie Brown' (jules85@live.com.au)
Cc: Harvey, Peter (Peter.Harvey@det.nsw.edu.au)

Dear Ms Brown

I refer to your request for the names of the officers who may be conducting investigations into matters involving Carenne Special School. As your relationship with the school and any issues arising at the school is unknown, I am not prepared to provide any advice regarding this matter.

Grant Marley
Senior Manager
Serious Misconduct Investigation Team
Department of Education and Training
Ph: 9244 5203
Fax: 9266 8791

It would appear as though Mr Marley is content with hampering an investigation or there is no such investigation to begin with. Given that Mr Marley's Serious Misconduct Unit is not interested in investigating complaints against Lee Churches' postings on Sydney Indymedia under various names and that the Police are allegedly involved according to an MP that he would be more than happy for me to speak with Police and provide evidence I may have.

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?

Dissenters threatened with criminal action

Posted September 23rd, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

The four brave souls calling themselves the Carenne Saviours report that they have been threatened with police intervention should they continue speaking with the media or posting comments on this website.

The group claims that assistant principals Lee Churches and Michael Auld are claiming that the Police are trying to discover the identities of those commenting on Indymedia Sydney and are intending on laying charges. It is not the first time members of the group have been threatened, with one member claiming she received an email from the department's Employee Performance And Conduct (EPAC) Unit in May, claiming that her anonymity could amount to misconduct for failing to assist the department.

It would appear as though the threats - made by members of the Carenne Special School executive are simply tools used to suppress dissent. It is the advice of counsel that the police would not become involved in postings on a website unless the postings were threatening. Simply commenting on matters of public importance is no more a criminal offence than a peaceful protest.

The barrister did however advise that those aggrieved may lodge proceedings for defamation, but these would also be unlikely to succeed as long as the comments made were true and in the public interest.

The group claims that since the initial story about them was published on Indymedia, attempts have been made to identify those who dared to speak out. They claim that one staff member at the school had been suspected of being involved and has been the subject of random complaints by other staff and accused of neglecting the needs of a student in order to make life difficult for her.