Carenne Support Director's wife makes submission to Boston inquiry as an 'impacted parent'

A report into the failures of the Assisted School Travel Program's operation for 2012 has been released by the Department of Premier and Cabinet. In the report, it is mentioned that corrupt and incompetent director and self-confessed carjacker Geoff Salmon's wife Gillian made a submission to the inquiry as an 'impacted parent'.

Investigations by Carenne Gate have been unable to discover just how the Salmons were impacted, especially when their son Phillip is being transported by Carenne Support Limited in 2012, a company that Geoff is a director of.

Did Salmon tell Dr Boston that she was the wife a director of the contractor transporting her son? What exactly did she say in her submission? These are critically important questions given her close association with the program (through Carenne Support's involvement).

Review recommendations hidden from parents

Carenne Special School executive staff have deliberately kept parents from knowing what the recommendations of the Snowden Review were according to staff. Carenne executive staff and those running the review have already been criticised on this blog for failing to follow the department's School Development Policy.

It was alleged in March that Neil Moon, the current principal of Carenne who is presently facing a serious criminal charge before the Local Court did not inform parents what the terms of reference were for the review.

Our expert on school reviews tells us that it is ordinary practice for the actual review report to be released to parents and the school community, even if only in part. In the case of Carenne this has not been done, despite Neil Moon claiming on 31 May 2010 that:

"We now need to build a scaffold to respond to the recommendations - set up a timeline to meet the recommendations; we have already started responding to the recommendations."

This statement by Mr Moon in staff meeting minutes makes a mockery of claims by Assistant Principal, Lee Churches (better known to our readers as Carennetruth) that the review found nothing. The recommendations by Snowden's team must have been numerous for there to be a requirement for scaffolding to meet them.

If school management has required so many changes then there are obviously a plethora of issues at Carenne which Mr Moon is now keeping from the parents.

Parent survey a 'joke' says staff

Carenne Special School staff have supplied a copy of the survey sent home to parents and carers as part of the review to be undertaken at the school this week. Staff claim that the survey is a joke and is clearly intended to produce certain responses.

Staff claim some of the questions asked were ridiculous and that parents could not possibly answer them truthfully. "Questions like the one about school leaders and that the school caters to the learning needs of all students are just ridiculous, there is no way parents can know this. Parents can only answer about their own child not all students as a whole",

"It was written to get a certain response" said the staff member.

Concerns have been raised about the use of the review and the way in which it is being conducted since it was announced.

Experience from Dubbo shows that Carenne review will be a Snowden 'snow job'

Staff and parents of Dubbo College have expressed concern at the management review into Carenne Special School being ran by Peter Snowden. They allege that Snowden led the review team which looked into Dubbo College in 2007, which was nothing more than a snow job and stopped just short of blaming teachers for the department's mess.

A teacher said "It's a joke, you have this review in 2007 that says that there isn't that much wrong and it's a problem with staff needing to adapt, yet the headlines in the paper show different."

A parent said "I was told what the outcome of Snowden's snow job at Dubbo College was in 2007 and nothing which should have been looked at was, he is snow job Snowden."

A senior staff member at the department's regional office said "I can assure you that the review report has already been written, Snowden is one of those people the department sends in to look like they are doing something and to make it all go away. They will say that the problem is that a former employee has significant support in the school and that he and his supporters are destabilising it."

YOUR SAY: What should the review focus on?

With the terms of reference being kept as a closely guarded secret, what do you believe should be focused on in the review to be conducted at Carenne Special School?

School review letter light on detail says expert

A senior officer of the NSW Department of Education and Training has criticised the letter sent home to parents by Neil Moon informing them of the forthcoming school review. The expert claims that the letter doesn't specify what type of review is being conducted nor the terms of reference.

The expert, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals said "Neil Moon needs to be frank and open with parents and tell them exactly what the review is. You can't say there is going to be a review, it will be transparent and not give the detail."

The expert told Carenne Gate reporters that the NSW Department of Education and Training has three types of reviews under its School Development Policy.

"The SDP allows for Education Support Teams, School Program Reviews and Management Reviews. ESTs are usually used to develop programs, SPRs to repair existing programs and management reviews are used where the management of the school is malignant,"

"Carenne is facing a Management Review," he said.

According to the department's policy, management reviews are used where "there is substantial evidence of significant dysfunction in the operation of the school as identified by the school education director."

This indicates that the department is well-aware of the poor management of the school by executive staff and the plethora of issues at the school.

The expert then said that the terms of reference of the review should be communicated to the school community.

"Why hasn't Neil Moon told parents what the terms of reference are, it is a transparent review, they should know what is being looked at."

He claimed that reviews do not guarantee confidentiality but anonymity, of which there is a significant difference. He went on to say:
"Neil Moon has made a right proper mess of the communication surrounding this review and parents have every right to be concerned, it shows the issues with the management team at Carenne."

Parents concerned about school self-evaluation

As part of the external review of Carenne Special School to commence next week, parents have been sent home school self-evaluation surveys. These surveys rate the areas of communication and culture from a parent's perspective.

Some parents have contacted me concerned about how confidential these evaluations will be. One parent said "They don't ask for them to be sent back in an envelope or anything, you are to send them back to school with your child, they will know who wrote what and we know how much some staff like to bully parents, it just won't be confidential."

Another parent said "This entire review process is just a front, if they were serious about sorting out Carenne they would have used a team from outside of the department, the problems at Carenne are far more serious than the department can handle itself, its just an attempt to slap on the window dressing."

These comments and concerns demonstrate the amount of faith parents have in the Department of Education and Training to conduct a fair and proper review into the issues at Carenne Special School.

Parents claim school review will be biased

The Department of Education and Training is conducting an external review of Carenne Special School and parents claim that the review will be biased.

A letter sent to parents last week claims that an external team led by the Western NSW Schools Development officer will visit the school over the period 15 - 17 March. Parents have been advised that they may be invited to be interviewed by the review team and a random selection will be given survey forms to complete.

Parents have also been told that their children may be involved in interviews with the team.

The purpose of the review is to interview and survey parents and students and to analyse policies, procedures and documentation. The principal will be presented with a report discussing culture, communication and leadership which will be used by the Carenne executive to support forward planning.

One parent told me "They will only select parents who will say what they want for this review, they won't choose those of us who have concerns with the school, they will want to keep them under their hat," the parent said that she was concerned that the letter claimed all information will be confidential and protected by a code of conduct.

"They had a code of conduct when Lee Churches harassed that parent on that Indymedia website and they did nothing about it, it's not adequate protection."

Another parent said "They need to look at culture in the place alright, they need to look at the bullying and snowjobs."