Fresh child protection claims surface at Carenne

Carenne Gate has been contacted by a parent, concerned about the behaviour of Carenne Special School School Learning Support Officer, Adam Ryan towards students at the school. The parent alleges to have make a report to Neil Moon, which was never recorded or investigated.

The parent alleges that she has observed Mr Ryan being 'all over' two female students and 'roughhousing' with male students on the lawn at the front of the school in direct breach of child protection policies of the department.

She claims to have reported Ryan's conduct with the two female students, which she claims to have observed over a period of two months to Neil Moon who promised to do something about it but never got back to her. She said she contacted EPAC today and was told that no report had been made about her report to Mr Moon, despite Moon requiring to notify them.

It appears that once again, Carenne Special School are covering up complaints of a child protection nature.

The Carenne art scam

Carenne parents are being asked to pay $30 for artwork created by their children as part of the Carenne Family Fun Day on 19 November.

Parents have been told that to get their child's artwork that will be exhibited at the family fun day that they will need to pay $30 to cover the cost of creating it, despite it being paid for as part of the school's art budget.

"Carenne has a significant amount of funding for the creative arts KLA," said Barracus.

"I am not sure why the school is spending the KLA money and then wanting parents to pay it back. It seems to me like Neil Moon is trying to use the money somewhere else."

Parents were also critical of the request, with one telling Carenne Gate that she wouldn't be going to the Family Fun Day and that she wouldn't be financially supporting the school in future. "This is just typical of Carenne since Neil Moon came on the scene, he does everything he can to make parents fork out money," said the parent.

A staff member at the school said that spin had been put on the day. "They are making out that local artist Martin Coyte is doing the school a favour by opening the exhibition at the family fun day, but he is not doing it because of the school, he is doing it because his son goes there."

Neil Moon needs to come clean on exactly what he is doing with the money from the day.

Ungrateful, homophobic Michael Auld discriminates against MRR contestant

A committee member of the Riding for the Disabled Association, Michael Auld has attacked a contestant in the My Recipe Rules competition being held for the benefit of the association due to his belief that the contestant is homosexual.

In the email sent by Auld to Christine Porter, Mary Housler, Nola Ramsay, Clare Moore and Ros Luther, Auld says that he doesn't think that RDA should be associated with homosexuals and makes an allegation that the contestant is a pedophile.

The ungrateful Carenne teacher and RDA committee member doesn't realise that without contestants there would be no competition and no funds for RDA. It's time that the DEC investigate Auld and his serious misconduct.

RDA takes a safe bet using Gavin to speak to the media

Following the response to a report of a $1,000 donation to the Bathurst Riding for the Disabled Association in the Western Advocate where Lauren Dare and Michael Auld spoke to the media, it seems as though RDA has taken a safe bet using the more experienced Melinda Gavin to speak to the media.

Unlike Lauren Dare, Mrs Gavin didn't make false promises for the money, simply claiming that it would go towards the "upkeep of the animals", something RDA has had trouble funding since the Snowden Review found that funds had been siphoned from the school to look after RDA's animals.

Gavin's discussion wasn't without gaffe though, with the Western Advocate reporting that Carenne Special School owned eight horses as well as donkeys, rabbits, sheep, pigs and goats. According to nedkelly, Gavin wasn't misquoted -
"Gavin said that to the paper, she said that the school paid for the animals and they were the school's."

This blog has long been critical of the relationship of RDA and Carenne. Carenne has a limited budget, which the likes of Michael Auld, Melinda Gavin, Clare Moore and Paula Hundy have allowed to be siphoned to RDA for minimal benefit. Part of the funding for the yet to be constructed Trade Training Centre found its way to RDA with little scrutiny.

Neil Moon's latest Carenne Support spin

Neil Moon has once again talked Carenne Support up to parents, sending parents an update about the organisation. In the newsletter, Neil Moon mentions how Carenne Support provides the school with therapy assistance and resources and how these services could not be provided if it wasn't for the valuable support the school receives from Carenne Support.

In the mini-newsletter, Moon also expresses thanks to Christine Porter, who co-ordinates services at the school.

One parent contacted Carenne Gate to report that they were told last year that Christine Porter had stepped down as therapy co-ordinator. "It sounds like that was a blatant lie by Neil Moon," said the parent.

Porter was heavily involved in students not getting therapy and it being covered up and the defrauding of the state Department of Disabilities. nedkelly told Carenne Gate that Porter had been implicated in an investigation into services funded by ADHC. She said -

"It was found that Christine Porter herself was responsible for lying to ADHC and receiving money for therapy wasn't being done. She blamed Coleen Leis, Peter Richards, Barbara Woolfe and Angie Cranston for it but the truth is that Carenne Support was being paid to use therapists to do the therapy not the school for staff to do it,"

"Porter nearly ruined Marion Baker when she exposed the fraud going on with Carenne Support,"

"Even after Carenne Support lost ADHC funding, Christine still co-ordinated therapy involving other organisations such as GWAHS and ADHC. She interfered in their work so much that numerous complaints were made about her to the department."

Neil Moon had the opportunity as a principal from another school to come into Carenne and fix the problems, but he has instead shown that he is as corrupt as the rest of them.

Carenne Support refuses to answer questions at AGM

The Carenne Support AGM held at Carenne Special School last night was a farce according to one source in attendance. The source, who has a child at the school decided to go to the AGM after receiving a memo from the school inviting her to attend the Carenne Support AGM to discuss Carenne Support.

According to the source, the memo mentioned that Carenne Support was a worthwhile cause and they used their funds for physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy on students. "I have read the blog where you say that most students don't receive therapy so I went along to see for myself, it was the weirdest AGM I had ever been to."

The source claims there was a discussion about Carenne Support's financial position, where Graeme Grundy said the organisation was receiving increased revenue from the education department but was spending more on therapists. The source said she found it unusual that the financial statement wasn't circulated at the meeting.

The source asked Carenne Support what therapy they gave, knowing that her son only received therapy provided by NSW Health. Mary Housler became defensive and told her that the client list and their details were confidential. "I wasn't asking for details, I wanted an overview," said the source.

It's time that Carenne Support realises that as an organisation which claims to be a charity, it is accountable to the public and should be ran transparently.

Abuse by Melinda Gavin ignored by Neil Moon

Staff at the Bathurst Christian Life Centre on Friday reported the physical abuse of a male Carenne student to Neil Moon on Friday, only to be told that they had "misinterpreted" the situation.

Christian Life Centre staff contacted Carenne Gate after being brushed off by Neil Moon. They claim they observed Melinda Gavin forcefully grabbing a student by the arm and pushing him into a bus, while telling him "stop your f---ing shit." The incident was witnessed by four staff, one of which immediately contacted the school.

One of the staff said -

"I couldn't believe the principal's attitude, he told me you don't understand how to deal with these sorts of kids, they need to be treated like this sometimes. You misinterpreted the situation."

According to the staff, Mrs Gavin was responsible for the supervision of a male and female Carenne student at the church, with no teacher present. This is a serious breach of the Department of Education and Communities' child protection policies and guidelines set by the Public Service Association. Even after repeated reports of these breaches on this blog, Neil Moon continues to ignore policy and allow aides to be solely responsible for the supervision of students.

Neil Moon has had numerous opportunities to fix the issues at Carenne and has done nothing and should be stood down and replaced by a real leader.