Naismith refuses to investigate Carenne Support, Neil Moon over medical incident

A medical incident on Carenne Support's Lithgow bus driven by Dave Graham and escorted by Robyn Graham last week highlighted serious issues with how Carenne Support trains its drivers and escorts. The duo were caught completely by surprise when a student had a seizure on the bus last Wednesday, not knowing the correct way to deal with the issue.

According to Barracus, Robyn Graham told her that she didn't know what to do so left the student strapped to the seat while they had a fit. She said she "watched the child turn blue" and called the ambulance, which Dave Graham rushed to meet. Barracus told Carenne Gate this was not the proper way to handle the situation, which came down to Mr and Mrs Graham not being properly trained by Carenne Support.

When the incident was raised with Neil Moon, Barracus was told to keep their mouth shut and act as though it never happened.

Investigations by Carenne Gate can reveal that the principal and school staff are responsible for ensuring that bus staff have proper information and training to deal with such situations and all drivers and escorts should have health care plans detailing what to do in certain situations. According to Barracus and Save Carenne, Neil Moon has never made this information available.

When approached by Save Carenne, Catherine Naismith refused to deal with the complaint, further showing her complete lack of regard for the safety of disabled students being transported under the assisted travel program.

Robyn Graham abuses student

Despite being under close scrutiny, staff associated with Carenne Special School in Bathurst continue to act inappropriately, unprofessionally and worst of all - continue to abuse children. Carenne Gate has learned of an incident involving Robyn Graham, wife of Dave Graham and escort on Carenne Support's Lithgow run at the end of November.

Without approval from the Special Transport Unit, and while claiming for running two buses, at the end of November Dave Graham combined the Lithgow and Kelso runs and performed it himself, with his wife as escort.

During the run, Robyn Graham hit an indigenous student across the face and forcefully held him to the seat while using racial slurs to refer to the student. When the student became agitated, Mrs Graham threatened to sit on him to ensure he remained seated. The student's parent noticed bruises on his arm that afternoon and asked Mrs Graham what had happened. She told the parent that he wouldn't remain in his seat so she restrained him.

One of the students on the bus then began to tell the parent what had happened and spoke of the language used by Mrs Graham towards the student.

The incident was reported to Bathurst Police, who advised that the school would need to look into the matter. A complaint was made to Neil Moon, who promised to look into the incident but as usual with child protection complaints at Carenne nothing appears to have been done. It appears to be Mr Moon's practice to drag these matters on so the evidence is destroyed or the complainant goes away. In this case, the parent took photographs of the bruises on their child's body as evidence of the attack.

Frighteningly, Mrs Graham remains as a SNTS escort on Carenne Support's Lithgow run.

According to Barracus and nedkelly, staff at Carenne were briefed about the incident by Neil Moon and told to say nothing if interviewed by Police or staff from EPAC.

It's time that the authorities get real and take action about the continued abuse being suffered by students at Carenne Special School.