Spears breaks SNTS rules again

Another bizarre set of circumstances involving Carenne Support Director, Geoff Salmon's son and his transport provider Dick Spears was observed today. In the past, Mr Spears has been reported on this blog as making special arrangements for Mr Salmon and defrauding the department.

It is well known that the only days Mr Spears takes Mr Salmon's son back to Oberon is Friday. For the rest of the week, he uses an extra vehicle driven by his wife to take the student to Kelso. Today, in breach of SNTS rules, Mrs Spears was observed driving around Kelso with Mr Salmon's son in the bus.

It is obvious that on this occasion that Mr Salmon was using Mrs Spears as a babysitter until the student's carer was home. Under SNTS rules, if there is not an appropriate person to meet the bus, the special transport unit must be contacted and alternate arrangements made. Instead, Mrs Spears drove around until the carer was home.

Harvey, Simone ordered ICAC coverup

A number of sources both inside Carenne Special School and at the Bathurst District Schools Office have claimed that the Department of Education and Training knew of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's investigation into Carenne Special School prior to it raiding the school in early July.

One source claims that staff were interviewed prior to the school being raided, giving them a "heads up" on what was going to happen.

Staff allege that at the direction of Peter Harvey, Bathurst's School Education Director and Tony Simone, Information Technology Operations Manager both told staff that key evidence at the school was to be destroyed prior to the ICAC taking further action.

Whistleblowers claim that some computers at the school containing evidence went missing prior to the ICAC raid and were taken to Melinda Gavin's property at Caloola while others were wiped of information by DET IT support staff. The student laptops which were kept in the storeroom were removed, with staff told to tell the ICAC the school never received them if asked.

Incriminating emails were deleted by IT staff, with logs also changed to show that they were never sent. Documents detailing complaints of child abuse were also destroyed.

Documents providing evidence of corruption involving Carenne Support and the Riding for the Disabled Association were destroyed using the school's paper shredder and then taken to Wattle Flat, placed in a 44 gallon drum and burned.

It shows the lengths the DET will go to to cover up the corruption and abuse at Carenne Special School.

When will Peter Harvey act on Neil Moon

Neil Moon's tenure as principal of Carenne School has been nothing short of appalling. He inherited a school with serious issues, however in the space of 18 months has done absolutely nothing to resolve them and in some areas the school is far worse than it was when he took over from Terry Neal who was principal in a relieving capacity.

As School Education Director, Peter Harvey should be looking at Moon's performance closely and taking some serious action. How Neil Moon hasn't been placed on a Performance Improvement Program (PIP) is always a hot topic of discussion at SEA.

A Performance Improvement Program is implemented for a principal when they fail to meet key requirements of the position. These objectives fall into the area of educational leadership, educational programs, learning outcomes, student welfare, staff welfare, management and development, financial and physical resource management and school and community partnerships.

Educational Leadership
Neil Moon has failed to ensure the education and welfare of all students, ensuring effective teaching and learning practices throughout the whole school and has failed to collaborate with the school community.

Students in certain classes learn while others do not. There are a number of teachers at Carenne who are of concern to SEA, notably Michael Auld and Ros Luther. Both of these teachers have a poor history of educating students at Carenne, with Auld being more interested in pet projects such as RDA. These projects are taking away from student's education while being supported by Moon.

Moon has never collaborated with the school community. The results of the school review were covered up and major changes have not been communicated to parents and carers.

Educational Programs
Educational programs is an area where Neil Moon has improved the school. He has required more realistic work experience and has more students participating in vocational programs. He has also implemented the QuoCKA and PBL programs.

His only let down in this area is by letting Auld do what he likes with agricultural programs while neglecting students other curricular needs.

Learning Outcomes
In a school like Carenne, learning outcomes are hard to measure. If you look at how many students go on to successful post-school programs and how many students receive their HSC in Living Skills, Carenne has always done well.

Again, Auld is the let down of Moon in this area. He is allowing too many of the schools resources to be allocated to agriculture programs that students and parents are not interested in.

Student Welfare
This is one of the most important areas for a principal to manage and Neil Moon has performed abysmally. Most parents do not believe that Neil Moon can guarantee safety of their children and many are aware of the documented cases of abuse which has occurred at the school.

The school's policy of supplying tobacco to a student, sitting on students to restrain them, calling the Police when Autistics are having an episode, threatening students with violence and allowing students to be sexually assaulted by other students and staff all cause Moon's complete failure in this area.

Staff Welfare, Development and Management
Another important area and another complete failure for Moon. During Moon's time as principal the number of workers compensation claims has skyrocketed. The culture of the school is poisonous, with there being obvious divisions and a pack mentality among some staff. The school's decision making is seen as autocratic and most staff are unaware of their obligations under the Code of Conduct.

Staff such as Auld and Luther should have been placed on improvement programs but have not, causing students to suffer.

Physical and Financial Resource Management
This is another area that Moon has done poorly on. He has allowed for school funds to be diverted to programs such as RDA and the Therapy Farm without consulting with Finance. Some individual class budgets ran out last year and resources are wasted on programs that benefit only a small number of students.

School and Community Partnerships
No principal at Carenne will ever come close to Terry Mahony in this area. Terry was able to forge relationships between Carenne and almost anyone. Under Neil Moon, the views of parents and the school community are seen as unimportant, support for the P&C has been minimal and the perception of the school in the community has been mediocre.

It's time that Peter Harvey does what parents and students expect and deserve and take action against Neil Moon.

Further incompetence surrounding RDA uncovered

Carenne Gate has uncovered further incompetence surrounding the Riding for the Disabled Association in Bathurst. Carenne Gate has learned that the structure of the organisation has been changed from an incorporated association independent of its members and administered by the Office of Fair Trading to an unincorporated association which is no longer separate from its members.

RDA has come under attention on this blog for its incompetent management and corruption in the past.

The change means that RDA no longer has to submit annual reports to the Office of Fair Trading which include details of its financial affairs. It also means that RDA no longer needs to keep:

• a register of committee members, available for inspection by anyone
• a record of any committee member conflicts of interest, available for inspection by members
• a record of the association's financial transactions and position
• all minutes of the proceedings of committee and general meetings.

On Friday, Carenne Gate spoke to the Registry of Associations and Co-Operatives in Bathurst and asked why an organisation would choose to do this. His response was -

"It's crazy. Now each member is responsible for the affairs of the organisation. If it's sued they can all be sued. Any contracts are made by a member on behalf of the organisation, not in its name. It's no longer distinct from it's members. It's crazy. Who ever did this would have to be crazy. You would only do this if you couldn't afford to pay the $49 per year or you were trying to hide something."

Once again it shows the complete incompetence of the committee running RDA in Bathurst and the secrecy surrounding the organisation.

The great therapy scam

It has been known for sometime that Carenne Support defrauded the Department of Ageing, Disabilities and Home Care with its therapy program. This fraud led to the deterioration of a number of students who DADHC had paid Carenne Support for to provide physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

This great therapy rort led to the replacement of Christine Porter as therapy co-ordinator. Christine had told DADHC that students were receiving therapy when they were not.

According to Geoff Salmon, the therapy program would be open to anyone in the area, but Carenne Support had a rule that referrals for Carenne students would take priority. Despite this, Carenne Support only offered to provide services to people in Bathurst and Oberon.

Carenne Support charged DADHC $60 per hour for therapy with a minimum of 10 hours per week to be provided for.

It is yet another example of the fraud committed by Carenne Support and it's directors.

DOCS discontinues abuse investigation

The parent of a student who she alleges was physically assaulted by Terry Neal in May last year has told Carenne Gate that the Department of Community Services has discontinued its investigation after being unable to prove that he abused her son.

The parent claims that her son came home from Carenne one day and had bruises on his leg. When the parent called Yvette Smith, who she was friends with at the time, she was told her son had been hit on the leg with a bat by Terry Neal when he wouldn't do an activity in the mini-gym.

The parent reported it to Neil Moon, who told her she was a liar before then reporting it to DOCS. She was advised by the Allegations Against Employees Unit this week that DOCS had been unable to find any witnesses and had decided to discontinue the investigation.

It is yet another example of the abuse inflicted on students at Carenne Special School and the entrenched culture of silence.

Carenne raided a month ago

The maligned Carenne Special School in Bathurst, where there have been complaints of child abuse and corruption was raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption over the school holidays. According to sources at the local school's office and staff questioned by the ICAC, computers and documents were seized in the raid.

The raid is a slap in the face for Neil Moon and Peter Harvey who have claimed the concerns at Carenne have been fabricated by disgruntled ex-employees. Whistleblower deepthroat told Carenne Gate -
"This has been a long time coming, the KLAN has been influencing Carenne for far too long. They have done some terrible things not only to students but also to other staff including myself."

According to sources at the local school's office, Peter Harvey was asked to stand particular staff down pending investigation but refused to do so. He also asked Grant Hatch to ensure the media did not report on the raid, as it would be damaging to the school's reputation.

Carenne Gate did not report on the raid when it first learned of it, as it did not wish to jeopardise any investigation into the abuse and corruption going on at Carenne.

Student threatens to commit suicide over cigarettes

It was panic stations at Carenne Special School today when a student threatened to commit suicide after being refused cigarettes by staff.

The student, who the school has been supplying cigarettes to since he was the age of eight threatened to kill himself shortly after 2:00PM today when Police and Ambulance officers were called according to Carenne Klansman turned whistleblower nedkelly. The student was taken to the local hospital for assessment.

"This student has a history of this when he is stressed, Carenne is a pressure cooker at the moment, everyone is stressed from the hackers and the blog. People are being held to account," said nedkelly.

Only last month another student was taken to hospital after being neglected by Carenne Special School staff.

Further abuse by Steve Minshull observed

A concerned parent contacted Carenne Gate and informed us of his observations today as he was driving along Lambert Street past Bathurst Public School at 8:50AM. They observed seeing Steve Minshull at the side of the bus restraining a small male student while he was yelling at him. Staff of Bathurst Public looked on in horror.

While Mr Minshull was outside the vehicle, another small child was running up and down the aisle of the bus as there was no adult inside the vehicle.

It is yet another example of the complete incompetence of Steve Minshull, Capebase bus driver and Carenne Special School music teacher.

Student in front of bus almost causes an accident

Today, Matt Casey was observed by a parent driving Carenne's bus along George Street with a student in the front seat without a seat belt. The student grabbed the steering wheel, yanking it causing the bus to swerve narrowly missing a median strip.

The parent said she was shocked the student wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was in the front of the bus.

According to a department official questioned by Carenne Gate, teachers should be in the rear if the vehicle supervising students while the aide drives. To not do so is a breach of child protection guidelines.

Auld boosts numbers in Bill Sewell's class

Bill Sewell, a staunch supporter of Carenne Special School when he owned Bill's Pet Paradise continues to be looked after by Carenne.

Already Bill's wife Sue, also Di Poole, an officer at district office's sister has been guaranteed block work resulting from her husband's former support. According to jrosenberg, Sewell is an incompetent aide and shouldn't have a job at Carenne.

Bill Sewell is a teacher at Bathurst TAFE where he teaches animal studies. At the beginning of this year, enrollment numbers dwindled so Michael Auld conspired with him and fellow Labor Party man Mike Clancy to enroll students in his course. Without these students Sewell would have been without a job.

One patent contacted Carenne Gate to report that their child was forced to do the course and didn't wish to do it.

It shows how Carenne continues to protect it's depends while doing little for students.