Bad apples: Abusive parents face new crackdowns in plans to stamp out school scourge

Parents who attack educators online will be banned from schools for the first time, while aggressive families face longer sin bin penalties under a new crackdown on bad behaviour.

Principal of Parafield Gardens High School, Kirsty Amos. Yr 11 students Mikey Kim, Thanakoudom Than, Kristy, Tamanna Mohebi and Lalkross Mawizuali in class. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Abusive parents who attack educators online will be banned from schools for the first time – while aggressive families face longer sin bin penalties, under an official crackdown on surging bad behaviour.

The state government will on Monday unveil tougher laws for schools to slap longer bans on threatening and aggressive parents or carers, and allow barring orders for more offences at extra locations.

Authorities are “drawing a line in the sand” with a crackdown officials hope will help end the bitter teachers’ industrial row as Education Department figures show a spike school bans and warnings over the past three years.

Under proposed new legislation to be tabled in state parliament in the new year, the government will bar parents for online – or social media – harassment for the first time.

The crackdown, which the government will consult on, also proposes to increase the maximum barring period, including for repeat offenders, from a current three months.

Barring orders would also protect from abuse or threatening behaviour at “off-site activities”, such as camps and excursions.

The plans, put to the Australian Education Union – which had no comment – would also make appeals harder except in “exceptional circumstances”.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he had a “no tolerance for anybody who thinks it is acceptable to abuse teachers and principals”.

“Nobody deserves to be unsafe at work – ever,” he said.

“The increase in abusive behaviour by parents and carers towards our school teachers and principals is completely unacceptable.

“I’ve have been disturbed by the stories I have heard about some of the behaviour teachers and principals are experiencing.

“Giving teachers and principals these protections will make a big difference to their working conditions, will reduce workload and create a safer workplace.”

Under state law, education site leaders have legislative powers to bar people for up to three months if they have trespassed on the site, behaved badly, threatened staff or abused workers.

Figures show the number of barring notices has increased 200 per cent from 38 in 2020 – the Covid-19 pandemic’s first year – to 113 in 2023.

A 130 per cent surge in warnings to families was recorded, from 55 to 175 in three years while teachers are also ejecting students from classrooms in record numbers.

Parafield Gardens High School principal Kirsty Amos, who has been a leader for the past 15 years all over the state, said excluding parents was a “last resort”.

Her northern suburbs Year 7-12 school, which has 1250 enrolments, had experienced problems in recent years with abusive parents but had worked hard to engage with families.

This had included hiring bilingual staff and having special family liaison officers on site.

She said abuse was unacceptable.

“Unfortunately, people do get hot under the collar and it is not just unacceptable, it is unsafe,” she said.

“Our community is fantastic and we always aim to work with families in a partnership – it’s a two-way communication.

Principal of Parafield Gardens High School, Kirsty Amos with students Mikey, Thanakoudom, Tamanna and Lalkross. Picture: Keryn Stevens

“A lot of the time problems are 10th hand, they’re extrapolated and almost always wrong from social media.

“A parent may have some inaccurate information on social media that impacts on what they believe to be true.

“What people want to know is what the consequences we apply to other people’s children. That’s not possible and it’s not helpful.

“Sometimes people think we’re not doing anything when we’re actually trying to support everyone that’s involved in the most supportive and inclusive way.

“We are an educational institution. So when young people engage in harmful behaviours it’s our job to apply consequences but it’s also our job to teach them a better, and safer way, to deal with things when they get upset.”

Opposition spokesman John Gardner, a former education minister, said bad behaviour can damage a school community but disputes should be resolved “positively”.

“I suspect most South Australian parents would be stunned at the really bad behaviour that some aggro parents demonstrate towards school staff,” he said.

He said the former Liberal government introduced new rules in 2019 but the Opposition was willing to “consider constructively” any new proposals.

“These tools should not be used too freely as a way of pushing aside potentially reasonable concerns that a parent might raise from time to time,” he said.