Absent Tamborine Mountain State High principal Tracey Brose quietly extends leave
A Gold Coast high school principal who successfully sued parents for defamation has extended her already lengthy leave after quietly leaving work in March.
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A Gold Coast high school principal who successfully sued parents for defamation after they called her an “evil, nasty, horrible woman” in social media posts has extended her already lengthy leave, with another acting head appointed to cover her absence.
Long-serving Tamborine Mountain State High principal Tracey Brose quietly left work two weeks before the end of Term 1 in March and was temporarily replaced by Park Ridge State High executive principal Sharon Amos.
It followed friction with sections of the school community which led to her being offered a transfer to another school last year, sources said.
Ms Brose told The Courier-Mail last month she was dealing with a family illness but planned to return to the school in the near future.
But a new acting principal, Loganlea State High headmaster Brenton Farleigh, has now been installed amid widespread speculation on the mountain about Ms Brose’s long-term tenure.
“I have been a part of the Tamborine Mountain State High School community, as a parent of students who attend the school,” Mr Farleigh said in a letter to parents and carers last week.
“As a parent, I have personally witnessed and appreciated the effort of the school’s leadership team and staff in supporting my own children’s educational journey.
“I understand that the high expectations and culture that exists at Tamborine is vital in providing our children with a safe and supportive learning environment in which they can thrive.
“I look forward to working with the dedicated staff, talented students and supportive community of Tamborine Mountain SHS while Tracey is on leave.”
Ms Brose, who has been principal at the school since 2001, made national headlines when she became embroiled in a bitter legal fight with parents in a landmark social media defamation case.
She was eventually awarded $6000 in compensation in 2020 after a District Court judge found she had been defamed by two parents in savage online attacks.
It was a bittersweet victory for Mrs Brose, with the judge criticising her credibility as a witness and awarding her a fraction of the $1.5 million-plus in damages she had sought from the eight parents she originally sued in a bitter 3½-year legal battle.
The explosive case came after Ms Brose was suspended in 2016 for reasons which have never been made public, despite parents’ attempts to expose them during a two-week trial in Southport District Court.
Judge Catherine Muir found that the veteran educator had been defamed in scathing comments on an online petition calling for her reinstatement.
The court heard the Ms Brose had been called an “evil, nasty, horrible woman”, a “bad principal” and a “lying, manipulative bully” in comments on the change.org petition and Facebook.
Ms Brose reached out of court settlements with some parents but ultimately ended up taking four to court. Two of them, Donna and Miguel Baluskas, were found to have defamed Ms Brose.
The Baluskases, who were bankrupted and lost their home during the legal battle, were each ordered to pay the principal $3000 in damages for Ms Brose’s “hurt and distress”.
The court heard Ms Brose had spent more than $600,000 on the defamation case but Judge Muir said the damages she awarded were “modest and well below what the plaintiff was seeking … but I consider them sufficient to vindicate (Ms Brose).”
Speaking after the ruling, the emotional couple said Ms Brose could “stick her bill up her arse”.
Ms Brose maintained the case was never about the money but about restoring her reputation and protecting her family after Mr Baluskas was convicted over a violent incident at her home.
Mr Baluskas was handed a suspended jail sentence in November 2019 after pleading guilty to criminal charges stemming from an incident where he stormed Ms Brose’s Tamborine Mountain home in his pyjamas and kicked in her door in a fit of rage as he tried to confront her over the defamation case.
When contacted by The Sunday Mail, Ms Brose said she was on personal leave dealing with a family illness, but declined to comment further.
However, it is understood she will remain on leave until the end of the school term with a view to returning to work for the third term in July.
Tamborine Mountain State High was among the top performers in the latest annual rankings of Queensland’s top 150 schools, revealed this week by The Courier-Mail.
The school shot up 42 places to 74th on the list, compiled by independent schools website Better Education.
Originally published as Absent Tamborine Mountain State High principal Tracey Brose quietly extends leave
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