Springbank Secondary College families receive apology after porn scandal teacher resurfaces
The education department is now conducting an urgent audit to see if any other discredited former teachers have been allowed back in schools.
Education
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A teacher who accessed pornography including violent “rape” images using a Year 10 student’s internet log-on – then let the student take the blame leading to his suspension – was back teaching in what the Education Department blames on an “administrative” blunder.
After being suspended, the student eventually was cleared of any wrongdoing but ended up leaving the school and town after being wrongly blamed.
The original scandal was covered up by the department for a decade and the former student was paid $30,000 in hush money, being forced to sign a confidentiality agreement he later regretted.
The department is now conducting an urgent audit to see if any other discredited former teachers have been allowed back in schools.
The department has sent a letter of apology to parents at Springbank Secondary College where the teacher was working until the department was alerted this month by the former student who took the fall for the original porn searches.
The father-of-three had left the department but was re-employed as a teacher in August 2021.
In a letter to the former student-turned-whistleblower, a departmental official says the blunder was made by an employee who is no longer with the department and notes that registration is not a matter for them.
The Advertiser understands the circumstances were investigated in 2014 and the man remained registered as a teacher.
“With the matter finalised in 2014, it cannot be revisited ... without the provision of new allegations not previously assessed and addressed...,” The Advertiser was told.
Education department officials stress extra checks and balances are in place for applications “which would prevent this error occurring again.”
The scandal only emerged after the former student alerted the department in early July that the man was back teaching children.
The former student was offered 10 counselling session by the department and it says once these are arranged, “this matter is now resolved.”
The original scandal occurred at Naracoorte High School in 2004, and the teacher again breached department guidelines on internet use in 2006 but escaped suspension both times and instead was counselled.
The student who was suspended was belittled, bullied and dropped out of the school and did not finish Year 10.
He is now a successful business man with a family, saying: “It is the course I was able to take but I feel very sorry for any students that requires them to deal with the department — this was a process failure by the department.”
From 2011 he began seeking information about the original investigation, including via a Freedom of Information lodgement.
However, it was not until October 2013 — almost a decade after the scandal — following the former student’s ongoing inquiries that the teacher who was then at Reynella East College as a Year 8 co-ordinator was suspended on full pay then transferred to a non-teaching role.
“No one has listened to my side – it was ‘Let’s just shut him up with $30,000’,” he said at the time.
“I regret accepting that settlement. I regret the fact this guy got away with that, and that’s all I was worth.”
This week he told The Advertiser that department officials who attended the meeting walked in and he expected them to discuss the case.
“But they said ‘We are not here to talk about the problem, we are here to talk about what it is going to cost to make it go away’,” he said.
“It was my understanding he was never again to teach in a school. We all make mistakes and move on, but this is a process failure by the department.”
Acting Education Minister Kyam Maher said: “It is completely unacceptable that in 2021 a teacher was re-employed by the Department for Education without appropriate processes being followed.
“Upon becoming aware of this matter, the Department for Education acted swiftly and removed the staff member from Springbank Secondary College. This is entirely appropriate.
“Since coming to government, we have established a far more rigorous process for the employment of staff in our schools. The probity panel provides an additional check to ensure the people employed in our schools meet the highest standards.
“I have asked for an audit of similar employment processes.”
A department official said there is no reason to believe any child was put at risk but apologised to the community for the failure in vetting processes.
“The internal investigation has found the teacher was registered and possessed a working with children clearance but was employed without all appropriate department processes being completed. This is not acceptable,” he said.
“The teacher was directed away last week, and won’t be returning to any school.”
In 2013 the then-premier Jay Weatherill waived the confidentiality agreement the man had signed so he could speak to the media, and told parliament the man was entitled to feel angry.
The letters were issued after the Sunday Mail revealed Reynella parents had not been told the reason for his abrupt suspension, prompting claims of a cover-up.
The letters assured parents police were not investigating as officers had “determined that no criminal offending has occurred.”
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