Terry Neal tells student to "get fucked"

A concerned parent from Carenne Special School contacted Carenne Gate this week to report vulgar behaviour by assistant principal Terry Neal.

The parent told Carenne Gate that their son had returned home from school on Friday and told her that there was an altercation between Mr Neal and another student. During the altercation, the student told Mr Neal to "get fucked", to which Mr Neal replied "You can get fucked too."

According to the Carenne Saviours, this abuse towards students is typical of Mr Neal. One Saviour told Carenne Gate:

"That is nothing. I have heard Terry Neal call students the c word, make fun of them when they haven't been able to perform a task in the gym and even threaten them. The man doesn't have the patience to be a teacher."

Another Saviour told Carenne Gate that this type of abuse towards students started when Jock Roxborough was principal. She claims that Mr Roxborough would use vulgar language himself and was even known to tell staff to physically assault students.

This is yet another incident which demonstrates the incompetence of Peter Harvey and Neil Moon who continue to do nothing about staff conduct issues.

Responsibilities blurred at Carenne for years: Rosenberg

Carenne Special School whistleblower, "Jake Rosenberg" has spoken out about teachers leaving aides unattended with students in direct defiance of their role statement, child protection rules and against the advice of their union.

Rosenberg reports that it is common practice at Carenne for teachers to leave the classroom for extended periods and expect for the aide to supervise students. Rosenberg also says that aides have been asked to use their own vehicles to transport groups of students to and from work placements. She claims that this practice has been supported by successive principals from Jock Roxborough through to Neil Moon.

When Rosenberg raised the issue with Mr Moon, she was told not to be a "whinger" and to just do her job.

Rosenberg claims that the worst culprit for leaving their aide unattended with students for extended periods is Anne Baskerville. "She leaves her aides all the time, she might get a call from Neil Moon to go to another class to settle a student down but most of the time she is outside speaking, cuddling and kissing [name removed]."

Rosenberg says she is concerned about what would happen if there was an incident in the class while Baskerville was off doing something else. "It's the class for the really disabled kids, the ones that need to be looked after more than the rest, she shouldn't be off frolicking with other students or being called to other rooms, it's wrong."

Rosenberg says that the problem is spread throughout the school. "Peter Richards, Michael Auld, Ros Luther, they all leave aides unattended with students. On work experience days aides and teachers take kids to work in their own cars."

Barracus told Carenne Gate that the practice of taking students to work placements by both teachers and aides needed to be re-evaluated.

"I have told Neil Moon that it is asking for another allegation to be made. There were allegations that Anna Blackburn and David Withyman were getting intimate to and from work and TAFE, what's to stop that happening again. Nothing. Of course, you know what Moon did? Blew me off!," said Barracus.

According to documents by the Public Service Association, School Learning Support Officers (formerly teacher's aides) are not to supervise students. They are also not to take them to and from work experience or other activities. Only teachers can supervise students. The PSA recommends that any SLSO who is pressured to do this should contact them.

What it shows is that once more, the executive of Carenne are incapable of following the department's child protection guidelines. It also shows the appalling leadership qualities of Mr Moon who will not listen to concerns from his staff.

Carenne Support acts after information released on Sydney Indymedia

One of the non-profit organisations at the heart of the Carenne Gate affair has been forced to act following the release of information on Sydney Indymedia.

On 2 October 2009, I mentioned in this article that Carenne Support's paid CEO (who was un-named in the original posting but it is Christine Porter) remained on the board of directors despite being remunerated for her work (something frowned upon in a non-profit organisation). On 11 November 2009 I named the current directors of the company, referring to a report from Dun & Bradstreet.

Following the release of this information, Carenne Support removed Mrs Porter as a director, effective 24 November 2009. They also removed former Carenne Special School principal Jock Roxborough on the same day despite the Carenne Saviours claiming that he resigned the position some time ago.

It would appear that Carenne Support knew they had done the wrong thing and only acted after they were exposed on Sydney Indymedia.

It is interesting when directors of Carenne Support, Carenne Special School staff and senior DET officers claim Indymedia is full of lies that Carenne Support acts on the information.

"Carennetruth" supplies evidence intended to implicate relieving principal

Serial bully, Carennetruth (known to be Lee Churches), an assistant principal has provided me with an affidavit sworn by Terry Neal in October 2008 in relation to the Carenne sex affair. She claimed that Mr Neal committed perjury by claiming the student involved in the affair remained a student at Carenne until the end of the year, despite leaving on 29 September 2003.

Miss Churches overlooked a point in the affidavit where Mr Neal claimed that the student remained a student until the end of Term 3. The affidavit does prove that Lee Churches hijacked the school executive early in 2003.

The affidavit claims that Mr Neal was the assistant principal responsible for the teacher accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student, Anna Blackburn yet early in 2003, a behaviour contract was drawn up by Lee Churches and the school principal Jock Roxborough. Mr Neal was only involved in the process when it was amended on 14 March 2003.

The affidavit indicates that Miss Churches was aware of incidents involving the student and Miss Blackburn throughout the year but never reported them as child protection matters.

Why the assistant principal responsible was excluded from the process initially is alarming and indicates that Lee Churches knew something that Mr Neal did not. It indicates the power Miss Churches had over Mr Roxborough, which has continued under successive principals.

Despite the Carenne Special School executive knowing about inappropriate contact between the student and Miss Blackburn from as early as March and continuing until at least August, the department's Child Protection Investigation Directorate did not commence investigations until October.

The CPID commenced investigations after receiving an anonymous complaint about Miss Blackburn and not due to reports by the school executive.

This is a matter of public importance when student welfare and child protection issues are covered up by the school executive.

Carenne Special School staff speak out

Originally published on Sydney Indymedia - 25 August 2009

I was fortunate to be invited to a meeting at the weekend where a group of four passionate educators met to discuss how to "save their school" following a mass of issues which the school executive, district office and the Employee Performance and Conduct Unit has refused to act upon. The group claims that the department is more interested in protecting a select few than fixing major problems.

The group contacted me asking if I would be interested in reporting on aspects of the meeting after discovering articles on Indymedia about their school. The only condition attached - complete anonymity.

After a three hour trip West of the Blue Mountains, I arrived in Bathurst and made my way to the restaurant where the group told me to meet them. I waited outside for a short time, wondering if my new found friends were going to show up or if I had been stood up.

After a while, a nervous looking woman came out and inquired "Are you Miss Brown?"

I responded "Yes" and followed the woman into the restaurant where the group was sitting. All four of those in attendance appeared jittery and nervous and every time the front door closed they were looking, making sure it wasn't someone they knew. One of the group told me "We are taking a huge risk by meeting here tonight, our careers will be over if anyone finds out."

Another said "you must realise that the only real opportunity for special education teachers and aides in Bathurst is Carenne."

It was immediately apparent the fear and apprehension that these people were feeling. They had taken a big step simply meeting in public, let alone with a journalist. At any time, Bathurst being the small town it is, someone they knew could walk in and see what was happening.

The group told me that they had been making complaints about Carenne for years, particularly about those close to the school executive who engage in misconduct. The group alleges that some of its members reported the relationship between a teacher and student only to be told they were "being stupid" and fobbed off by former school principal Jock Roxborough. Following the report, they claim they were harassed by an assistant principal and her close associates for being trouble-makers.

The group alleges that despite them reporting it well before the department investigation, they have never been asked to make a statement for the unfair dismissal or civil cases. They claim the department has only asked those who will collude and lie to provide statements supporting its defence into the relationship.

In October 2008, the group became concerned about an incident involving a bus escort and a student. They reported it to then principal Terry Mahony and were then subject to a number of attacks by the escort. When the escort began harassing parents at home after hours, the group decided it would begin writing complaints to sections of the department using an alias.

During our meeting, the group expressed astonishment at what they called the "gullibility" of the education department. With court cases surrounding the student sex affair and the unfair dismissal of Brian Carter involving the same people, the group can not believe the department continues to protect those involved. Because of this protection, those who are involved are able to target anyone they wish.

The group told me that there was a major crisis at the school, with staff being plotted against, harassed and setup. They said they no longer had anywhere to turn with Peter Harvey the local School Education Director doing nothing and the Employee Performance and Conduct Unit interested in finding out who is complaining rather than investigating the matters.

One of the group said "Peter Harvey showed his true colours on Wednesday, he has no interest in solving problems. He just wants the problems to go away,"

"He knows who sent letters and what-not and he was there denying that they came from the school."

Some of the matters complained about by the group are :-

* Breaches of the department's duty of care to students. They allege that in June a student got access to medication which was left unlocked in a teacher's desk and overdosed requiring a visit to the hospital which the school executive attempted to cover-up until it was exposed to the School Education Director.
* Threats of violence and defamatory remarks. Staff speak about how they would like to cause serious harm to whistleblower Brian Carter and student sex victim David Withyman for causing trouble for the school. Members of the school executive often join in or laugh at the comments.
* Nepotism in staffing. The principal's husband is given office work and a teachers aide's husband has been given the groundsman's position.
* Setups. An assistant principal has bragged about planting evidence and spooked staff about one of his theories in order to have another member of staff dismissed and items have been stolen from a teacher so that other's enemies are implicated in the theft.
* Access to information held by NSW Police. Due to a relationship between a Police officer and a school staff member, information held by Police has been leaked to the school.
* Letters sent by staff to set others up. The group has identified to the department who is sending anonymous letters complaining about school staff, which often are sent by those who the letter complains about in order to set someone else up.
* Circumventing legislation. They claim they were told by the principal not to refer to certain people in documents and instead use pseudonyms so they can't access them under Freedom of Information legislation.


The group says because of this they must regrettably take their cause public and expose what is happening at the school.