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.