Onkaparinga mayoral candidate takes aim at Christies Beach High

A mayoral candidate’s “unfair” claims on YouTube about the performance of a southern suburbs high school video have upset parents and students who have taken “extreme offence”.

A southern suburbs high school has urged a mayoral candidate to remove a video about its performance from social media, saying “parents and students have taken extreme offence”.

Christies Beach High assistant principal Skai Perkins has asked Steven Hann to remove the video in which he claimed “about one person (each year) who graduates from this high school will go to university”.

“You have made a number of claims that are firstly false, but the most concerning is the damage to our reputation that this video now causes that we have worked so very hard and deeply on,” Ms Perkins said in an email.

Mr Hann is one of eight mayoral candidates standing for Onkaparinga Council and says he is motivated by improving education and health outcomes for the community.

He shared a 10-minute video standing in front of Christies Beach High on YouTube about the area’s education and claimed it was “some of the worst in Australia”.

“Results from this high school: About five per cent of people get As that compares to Brighton High School where 32 per cent of people get As,” he stated.

“If you go to this school your chances of going to university are almost zero.

“As mayor I think it’s important to consult with business, schools and maybe the school community about how we improve education standards of schools like these.”

Steven Hann is running as a mayoral candidate for Onkaparinga. Picture: YouTube

He suggested senior students should mentor younger pupils and an “incentive” scheme introduced to improve results and to be funded by local businesses.

Ms Perkins wrote to Mr Hann on Wednesday respectfully asking for the video to be removed, after she was alerted to it by a parent inquiring about whether to enrol a child.

“After watching your video while talking to the parent, I felt nothing but saddened and shocked that unfair and untrue claims would be made about our school,” she wrote.

“Your facts about A grade percentages are simply incorrect.

“Most concerning around this claim, is that we have students in Year 12 currently striving for merits and they are absolutely on track to do so.

“They would be absolutely heartbroken to hear what you have said.”

Ms Perkins has invited Mr Hann to meet with the principal and the school’s 130 staff.

Mr Hann, who said he compared the school’s results to Brighton High and private schools, stood behind the claim that results in the southern area were much lower.

He said the school’s performance statistics were pulled from its own website, but if they were wrong he would update the video.

Mr Hann described himself on his candidate profile as a small business operator of 32 years – he owns Lonsdale-based Archery Supplies.

He also described himself as having worked in public service for 25 years and was previously the “director of hospitals” in Canberra for nearly 15 years.

The Education Department and Principal Graham Clark had nothing further to add.