Students exposed to exhaust fumes by Carenne Support

Students on Carenne Support's wheelchair bus run under the Special Needs Transport Service in Bathurst are being exposed to deadly exhaust gases from its Toyota bus following its quick fix on its back window.

Over the weekend, the rear window of the vehicle was smashed and on Monday, Carenne Support bus coordinator Dave Graham was forced to place a plastic sheet over the window and tape it on after Mary Housler refused to confirm if the damage was covered by insurance or if Carenne Support would pay for it to be repaired.

Students were driven around in the vehicle by Mark Sealey with the rear window missing and unsealed, exposing them to deadly fumes. Under guidelines for the Special Needs Transport Service, Carenne Support may only use a vehicle which is roadworthy and must have sufficient backup vehicles to cover any issues which may arise with the normal vehicle. Carenne Support has no backup vehicles.

The incident shows how Carenne Support puts profit before the safety of students.

Special treatment for Carenne staff and associates' children

Carenne Gate can reveal that special arrangements have been made for Geoff Salmon and Melinda Gavin for their children to remain at Carenne Special School for another year, despite other students graduating at a lower age.

Mr Salmon's son will be turning 20 next year and will remain at the school, while Mrs Gavin's daughter will turn 19. Many other students are made to leave the year of their 18th birthday. According to Carenne whistleblower Barracus, Neil Moon has directed that the two students be held back as their parents are unable to make alternate care arrangements for 2012.

"I remember some time ago there being a student in my class who hadn't been at Carenne long but who was made to leave when she was 18, despite their being no suitable post-school programs. Terry Mahony didn't care, she was gone. You have other students like Gavin and Salmon who stay as long as they like because of who their parents are,"

"Neil Moon has explicitly stated that they are to stay back," said Barracus.

Another Carenne staff member said that an autistic student who graduated two years ago should have been held back, but Terry Neal, relieving principal at the time said the student was "too much of a handful" to be kept at the school. She said that because of this he was "booted out" of the school.

Carenne has long been accused of favourtism amongst students whose parents have a close association with the school - this favourtism has included access to programs other students miss out on, therapy and equipment.

Once again, Peter Harvey and Neil Moon have shown their utter incompetence with the management of Carenne Special School.

Parent observes Melinda Gavin abusing student

A stunned parent has reported seeing Melinda Gavin striking a student while driving past the school today.

The parent claims that at 1:30PM today she was driving along Research Station Drive when she saw Melinda Gavin walking a student along the ramp near the demountable classrooms on the back oval. She saw Mrs Gavin raising her arm and then striking the student. The stunned parent stopped near the fence of the school and observed Mrs Gavin striking the student across the face and back another two times. She tried to get a photograph but having only a mobile phone on her it couldn't capture Mrs Gavin who was around 50 to 100 metres away.

The parent rang the school and asked to speak to the principal, Neil Moon but was told by Helen Windsor he was busy. She told Mrs Windsor that she was parked near the back fence and had observed the abuse of a student, to which Mrs Windsor said "rubbish" and hung up on her.

The incident is another in the long history of improper behaviour management techniques at the school amounting to abuse.

Carenne/RDA beg for money at McHappy Day

On the 20th anniversary of McDonalds' McHappy Day to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities, Carenne Special School and the Bathurst branch of the Riding for the Disabled Association were at the day asking people to donate to them.

One Carenne staff member was shocked when she walked over to the gazebo where Carenne and RDA had set up and overheard Adam Ryan asking people to make a donation to the Riding for the Disabled Association or Carenne. "I couldn't believe it, they took the therapy farm animals down there and set up just to beg for money," said the staff member.

It was only on Friday that Carenne was presented with a cheque for $14,000 from the V8 ball held in October for the races at Mt Panorama.

Corrupt therapist teaching at Carenne

A concerned parent has contacted Carenne Gate about their concerns surrounding corrupt Carenne Support therapist, Christine Porter teaching his son in Michael Auld's class on Tuesdays. The parent says he was contacted by his son from the school today, who told him that Mrs Porter was again teaching the class and that Mr Auld and his aide Melinda Gavin were not in the classroom.

As usual with Michael Auld and his newsletter pieces where he talks up his allies, Mr Auld mentioned in the school newsletter that Christine Porter had been doing a communication program with his class as well as also working with a small group of the class' students. Mr Auld mentions that "Class A is privileged to have a speech therapist working with us."

In the past, Mrs Porter has been accused of incorrectly leading people to think that she is employed by the school, defrauding DADHC, obtaining emails leaked from the special transport unit to supply to a hacker and covered up the neglect of a student.

According to a whistleblower at the school, Mrs Porter is trying to expand her influence at the school and her program has been part of her studies. "I believe she is trying to become a teacher, what a joke that is," said the whistleblower.

How Neil Moon can allow someone like Christine Porter to remain at Carenne Special School is of serious concern. It's time that this woman, who has been involved in a number of serious issues is sacked and shown the door.

Western Advocate gets only half the story

Staff and parents associated with the troubled Carenne Special School were surprised to open Friday's Western Advocate to find that the East Bathurst Rotary Club, under president Terry Mahony donating two Apple iPads valued at $1,200 to Carenne.

The article fails to mention that Mr Mahony was principal of the school in the past and is a director of corrupt school-based charity Carenne Support.

The article also mentions that Christine Porter is the school's speech therapist, despite her not being employed by the school but instead by Carenne Support. It is not the first time Ms Porter has attempted to present herself as being an employee of the department.

According to Carenne whistleblower "nedkelly", Porter likes to take credit for the iPad project at the school, despite having nothing to do with the initial planning for it. "Christine, as usual likes to talk her f---ing self up. She had nothing to do with using iPhones and iPads as communication tools, that was done by other people. Just like her Powered for Participation day, she likes to plagiarise and take the credit,"

"How come children who's parents work at the school get put ahead of others with this? As usual they look after their f---ing mates," said nedkelly.

As usual, the public is being shown only one half of the story by the local media.

Another scamming bus operator at Carenne

Carenne Gate can reveal that the bus operator who was falsely claiming for taking a Carenne Support director's son home to Oberon instead of to Kelso where he had been taken, Dick Spears has been performing another scam for the best part of 18 months.

Some 18 months ago, when another student was allocated to his Oberon district bus run, Mr Spears re-negotiated his contract with the Department of Education and Communities (then the Department of Education and Training) so he could purchase a larger vehicle. He told the then manager of Special Transport, Gail Vasic that he needed a larger vehicle and that his expenses (such as fuel) would go up because he had to use a different vehicle.

Despite claiming this to the department, Mr Spears uses his new vehicle only once or twice per week, using his old Ford Spectron van the rest of the time, despite being paid by the department to use his other vehicle.

Besides scamming the department, Mr Spears' Ford Spectron is unroadworthy and full of rust according to parents. One parent told Carenne Gate "I have concerns about him using that old bus of his, it has rust everywhere, what happens if he hits something, my son is dead."

The parent claims to have made a complaint about the vehicle to Neil Moon, principal of the Carenne Special School only for nothing to be done about it. "As usual with Mr Moon, nothing gets done, I'm treated like an idiot by him," said the parent.

It's time that the department, Mr Spears and Mr Moon realise that the money going to these operators belongs to the NSW taxpayer and that we expect a decent level of service for disabled student transport, not for them to be riding around in deathtraps like Mr Spears' Spectron.

Carenne Support driver reported to police

The driving of Dave Graham on his Lithgow bus route was of so much concern to one Carenne staff member on Thursday that she reported it to the Police.

The staff member told Carenne Gate that she was overtaken by the bus, driven by Dave Graham near the Lithgow jail at 4:15pm. She said he overtook her like she was standing still and would of been doing at least 120 kph in a 100 zone. "To not even be at Lithgow by this time is a bit strange and to drive like this to make up time is dangerous," said the witness.

The witness claims that Graham was flashing his headlights for others to get out of the way and was swerving between lanes.

It shows the utter incompetence and lack of regard for safety that Dave Graham and his employer, Carenne Support have.