Following the debacle of the Assisted School Travel Program at the beginning of the year when students were left stranded at the side of the road, Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has ordered an audit of every single Assisted School Travel Program run in the state in order to rein in costs.
During the audit, it was found that of all the contractors across the state, the majority of them were overclaiming the number of kilometres traveled each day in order to hike up their payments despite the average payment per run from the department being $300 per day for what is only a few hours work.
The program has been open to abuse by rogue operators for a long time, with many overclaiming, using unsafe vehicles and unsuitable staff. You only have to look at the operators that service Carenne in the afternoon to see the quality of contractors there - an old bus that should have been put off the road 20 years ago that's full of rust, a bus too small for the run, buses that blow smoke and buses that have unrepaired damage.
Stay tuned to find out which Carenne contractor is rorting the department for $190 per day!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sit on students to make them listen says Moon
Neil Moon has today been caught out encouraging the physical assault of students at Carenne Special School by staff. In an audio recording, Neil Moon can be heard encouraging Di Klavins to sit across the legs of a student while Michael Auld spoke to them.
Moon can be heard in the recording saying "Just sit on the bastard Di, Michael needs to talk to him and he needs to listen."
In the recording, the student can be heard screaming in pain saying that his legs are numb from having Klavins sit on him. According to Carenne Special School staff, Mrs Klavins weighs approximately 160 Kg, a similar weight to a small cow. Anyone who has had their toes tread on by a cow would know it can be quite a painful experience. Imagine that cow laying across your legs.
Moon, obviously knowing that the method of restraint was wrong told Klavins "Make sure you don't bruise him."
With a principal like Loonie Moon at the helm of Carenne there is no wonder that the school has serious issues with staff abusing students. It's time for Heavy Harvey to take serious action and clean the school out.
Moon can be heard in the recording saying "Just sit on the bastard Di, Michael needs to talk to him and he needs to listen."
In the recording, the student can be heard screaming in pain saying that his legs are numb from having Klavins sit on him. According to Carenne Special School staff, Mrs Klavins weighs approximately 160 Kg, a similar weight to a small cow. Anyone who has had their toes tread on by a cow would know it can be quite a painful experience. Imagine that cow laying across your legs.
Moon, obviously knowing that the method of restraint was wrong told Klavins "Make sure you don't bruise him."
With a principal like Loonie Moon at the helm of Carenne there is no wonder that the school has serious issues with staff abusing students. It's time for Heavy Harvey to take serious action and clean the school out.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Second Assisted School Travel training day a farce
One of the attendees at the second Assisted School Travel training day has spoken to Carenne Gate about her experience, claiming the day was a "farce" and a "complete joke". After being ousted on this blog for speaking about confidential student information in front of all present and being reprimanded by the department, Neil Moon altered the way the training was ran - inviting only those staff who needed to be there instead of all involved in the program at the school.
The attendee told Carenne Gate that school staff were trying to avoid "snitching" by changing the way the program was ran and discussed some matters in front of everyone but most were between school and travel staff. The attendee claims she had to sit in a cold room waiting for her turn because of the poor way the day was ran.
The attendee raised concerns about the training sessions being one-off due to changes to travel arrangements which frequently occur. She told Carenne Gate that the sessions were "useless" when new students are allocated to a run that bus staff know nothing about. "You can't believe how stupid this lot are, they haven't even considered what happens if a new kid starts - there's no training then," said the attendee.
Once again Neil Moon has demonstrated his poor organising and educational leadership casting doubts over his ability to run Carenne.
The attendee told Carenne Gate that school staff were trying to avoid "snitching" by changing the way the program was ran and discussed some matters in front of everyone but most were between school and travel staff. The attendee claims she had to sit in a cold room waiting for her turn because of the poor way the day was ran.
The attendee raised concerns about the training sessions being one-off due to changes to travel arrangements which frequently occur. She told Carenne Gate that the sessions were "useless" when new students are allocated to a run that bus staff know nothing about. "You can't believe how stupid this lot are, they haven't even considered what happens if a new kid starts - there's no training then," said the attendee.
Once again Neil Moon has demonstrated his poor organising and educational leadership casting doubts over his ability to run Carenne.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Moon: Unlucky or just plain dumb?
When looking at the tenure of Neil Moon as principal of Carenne School in Bathurst you could be forgiven for thinking that he is either extremely unlucky or completely stupid. His time has principal has been beset with issues, allegations and reprimands.
After being reprimanded for not supplying drivers and travel support officers of the Assisted School Travel Program with critical student information, Neil Moon has now been reprimanded for his approach to solving that problem.
As reported by Julie Brown, Neil Moon held a training day on the 4th June where confidential student information was discussed in front of all present, not just those who needed to know. Following Julie's posting, a number of parents made complaints about the way information was handled, some to the Privacy Commissioner and to Peter Harvey, Bathurst's School Education Director.
Staff at the school supported this blog's claim that confidential student information was discussed in front of all 15 attendees, with one teacher claiming she took leave for a week because she didn't want to take part in the training and breach department policy.
The second training day has been modified, with only selected people invited to a meeting with teachers at particular times to avoid the issue of student information being discussed in front of people who have no right to know.
As a result, Neil Moon has been reprimanded for breaching student privacy and departmental policy, just one in a long string of reprimands he has been given. The question that needs to be asked is why do they keep this guy around? Is he an example of what not to do or is Carenne a stinking mess that nobody else wants to run?
After being reprimanded for not supplying drivers and travel support officers of the Assisted School Travel Program with critical student information, Neil Moon has now been reprimanded for his approach to solving that problem.
As reported by Julie Brown, Neil Moon held a training day on the 4th June where confidential student information was discussed in front of all present, not just those who needed to know. Following Julie's posting, a number of parents made complaints about the way information was handled, some to the Privacy Commissioner and to Peter Harvey, Bathurst's School Education Director.
Staff at the school supported this blog's claim that confidential student information was discussed in front of all 15 attendees, with one teacher claiming she took leave for a week because she didn't want to take part in the training and breach department policy.
The second training day has been modified, with only selected people invited to a meeting with teachers at particular times to avoid the issue of student information being discussed in front of people who have no right to know.
As a result, Neil Moon has been reprimanded for breaching student privacy and departmental policy, just one in a long string of reprimands he has been given. The question that needs to be asked is why do they keep this guy around? Is he an example of what not to do or is Carenne a stinking mess that nobody else wants to run?
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Auld's newest weekend program
Following being caught out lying to a parent about a weekend Rural Fire Service program, Michael Auld has continued inappropriately spending time with students on weekends. Today, Michael Auld is spending time at the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) with a student.
The behaviour breaches the department's code of conduct and child protection guidelines and raises serious concerns as to why Mr Auld has to spend time with students on weekends.
It's time an end is put to the bizarre behaviour of Mr Auld.
The behaviour breaches the department's code of conduct and child protection guidelines and raises serious concerns as to why Mr Auld has to spend time with students on weekends.
It's time an end is put to the bizarre behaviour of Mr Auld.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Moon reprimanded over improper Assisted School Travel medical plans
Following a report on this blog in March that Assisted School Travel Unit manager Catherine Naismith ignored complaints about Carenne Support and Neil Moon over their handling of an incident where a student had a seizure and suffered from hypoxia while being transported home from school.
In that article, Julie Brown was critical of Neil Moon for failing to follow department policy by not making information available to drivers and Travel Support Officers. As a result of the article, the Bathurst Schools Office received a number of calls from concerned parents and launched its own investigation.
The investigation found that Neil Moon had negligently failed to provide bus staff with health care and behaviour management plans and that he had failed to have staff trained in their implementation. Neil Moon was told he was to arrange for information to be communicated to bus staff and to arrange training for bus personnel.
As a result of the blog posting and subsequent investigation, Neil Moon has arranged training for bus personnel for a total of five hours on two separate days. Despite the first of those sessions not being carried out properly, with confidential student information being discussed in front of all present staff were trained in high risk areas and provided with the behaviour and health care plans required under departmental guidelines.
The outcome is a testament to what can happen when issues are reported on this blog, complained about by parents and action taken.
In that article, Julie Brown was critical of Neil Moon for failing to follow department policy by not making information available to drivers and Travel Support Officers. As a result of the article, the Bathurst Schools Office received a number of calls from concerned parents and launched its own investigation.
The investigation found that Neil Moon had negligently failed to provide bus staff with health care and behaviour management plans and that he had failed to have staff trained in their implementation. Neil Moon was told he was to arrange for information to be communicated to bus staff and to arrange training for bus personnel.
As a result of the blog posting and subsequent investigation, Neil Moon has arranged training for bus personnel for a total of five hours on two separate days. Despite the first of those sessions not being carried out properly, with confidential student information being discussed in front of all present staff were trained in high risk areas and provided with the behaviour and health care plans required under departmental guidelines.
The outcome is a testament to what can happen when issues are reported on this blog, complained about by parents and action taken.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Moon's confidentiality hypocrisy
Regular readers of this blog would long have known that the principal of Carenne Special School, Neil Moon is a hypocrite and a liar. His training session for drivers and travel support officers under the Assisted School Travel Program today showed how much of a hypocrite the man is and his complete disregard for the privacy of student information.
Moon led a farcical training day today where he warned Assisted School Travel staff that what was said during the training was not to "leave these four walls" as it was confidential. Moon then allowed his staff to discuss medical and behavioral matters related to particular students with the 15 attendees. One attendee told Carenne Gate she was horrified at how it was ran:
Moon led a farcical training day today where he warned Assisted School Travel staff that what was said during the training was not to "leave these four walls" as it was confidential. Moon then allowed his staff to discuss medical and behavioral matters related to particular students with the 15 attendees. One attendee told Carenne Gate she was horrified at how it was ran:
"It was a complete waste of my time and everyone else's there. I couldn't believe it when the medical needs of kids on my run were discussed in front of the other people there."The day showed that Neil Moon has no idea how to manage a school and can not be trusted with sensitive personal information about students.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Slippery Mick and his weekend rendezvous
Imagine allowing your child to go with one of the teachers from their school on Saturdays to carry out a program which the teacher claims to be part of their program only to find out that the teacher had been lying about what the student and teacher had been doing. This is the horror faced by one parent of a Carenne student with poor verbal communication skills today.
The parent contacted Carenne Gate after being told by the local Police that there was nothing they could do. The parent had been told that Carenne teacher Michael "Slippery Mick" Auld had been taking the student to do his fire service training on a Saturday only to discover that the Rural Fire Service knew absolutely nothing about it. When the parent went looking for Slippery Mick and his son, he found his car parked outside the local cinema.
The parent confronted Auld who said that the RFS program had been postponed today due to bad weather. When the parent said that the RFS knew nothing about his slippery antics, Auld said that the parent had been lied to.
These antics raise very concerns about just what Auld is doing with students on weekends and why he feels the need to lie to parents if he is doing nothing wrong.
The parent contacted Carenne Gate after being told by the local Police that there was nothing they could do. The parent had been told that Carenne teacher Michael "Slippery Mick" Auld had been taking the student to do his fire service training on a Saturday only to discover that the Rural Fire Service knew absolutely nothing about it. When the parent went looking for Slippery Mick and his son, he found his car parked outside the local cinema.
The parent confronted Auld who said that the RFS program had been postponed today due to bad weather. When the parent said that the RFS knew nothing about his slippery antics, Auld said that the parent had been lied to.
These antics raise very concerns about just what Auld is doing with students on weekends and why he feels the need to lie to parents if he is doing nothing wrong.
Changes
The Carenne Gate team is always looking for ways to improve the site and the exposure of the problems at Carenne Special School. With local Police and the department allowing the debacle to continue the only real way to protect students and staff is to publicly expose what is happening at Carenne.
Welcome to our newest writer
The Carenne Gate team would like to welcome respected independent media journalist Mark Lindbert who will be contributing the occasional article about the mess that is Carenne Special School.
Merge with 'Inside Carenne'
Carenne whistleblower 'savecarenne' created her Inside Carenne blog where she exposed underage drug and alcohol use in Lee Churches' home, underage drinking at the Russell home and rorts of the worker's compensation system by Simone Russell. They can be read here.
Guest writers
Over the next few months Carenne Gate well begin publishing material written by guest writers on the ground within Carenne Special School and the education department. These articles will give readers a unique perspective into life at the coalface.
So keep us bookmarked and keep informed about what really goes on in NSW's school from hell.
Welcome to our newest writer
The Carenne Gate team would like to welcome respected independent media journalist Mark Lindbert who will be contributing the occasional article about the mess that is Carenne Special School.
Merge with 'Inside Carenne'
Carenne whistleblower 'savecarenne' created her Inside Carenne blog where she exposed underage drug and alcohol use in Lee Churches' home, underage drinking at the Russell home and rorts of the worker's compensation system by Simone Russell. They can be read here.
Guest writers
Over the next few months Carenne Gate well begin publishing material written by guest writers on the ground within Carenne Special School and the education department. These articles will give readers a unique perspective into life at the coalface.
So keep us bookmarked and keep informed about what really goes on in NSW's school from hell.
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