By Noel Towell, Nicole Precel and Bridie Smith
Two boys allegedly involved in last month’s machete brawl at Northland shopping centre should be expelled from school using upcoming expanded principal powers, the Victorian government has said.
Education Minister Ben Carroll said he would expect the two school-aged boys accused of participating in the brawl that terrified Sunday-afternoon shoppers at the popular retail centre to suffer serious consequences from their schools.
State government principals have been granted new powers to punish off-campus behaviour.Credit: Getty Images
Carroll announced the upgraded powers for state schools to punish off-campus behaviour that puts students or teachers at serious risk – such as online bullying – on Wednesday morning, saying the change had been introduced successfully in other states.
But principals warned the government to “proceed with caution” before granting the new powers from next month.
The principals’ peak body told the Department of Education that parents would expect school leaders to act like law enforcement officials when they are granted the expanded powers, aimed predominantly at online misconduct that has an adverse affect in the classroom or playground.
Australian Principals Federation president Tina King said the profession had been blindsided on Wednesday morning when Carroll announced the changes.
A school community in Melbourne’s west was left reeling last week when footage was widely circulated online showing students allegedly attacking other children with a machete in the toilets of a local McDonald’s. It is unclear if the new powers for principals would apply in those circumstances.
Carroll says the new powers are based on similar arrangements in NSW and South Australia, where principals can suspend or expel students for out-of-school conduct.
Many Victorian private schools can also act on behaviour by students or parents off school grounds.
Asked on 3AW radio on Wednesday if the new expulsion powers should be used on the alleged Northland brawlers, who are 15 and 16 years old, the minister said he was expecting that.
“In those situations, I think you’d be expecting it,” Carroll said. “Physical violence outside the school gate is completely unwarranted.”
But King says her group is worried that principals will be asked to intervene in matters that have nothing to do with school.
“My concern is the misunderstanding of these powers within the community will possibly put unnecessary additional expectations from parents on principals,” she said.
King said the new powers were aimed at the “small number of cases” where outside behaviour was “impacting severely” on life within the school gates.
“That’s when principals will exercise these powers, not because kids have had a beef up at the local park or at the footy club, and parents expect the other child to be suspended,” King said.
King said that school leaders had been surprised by Wednesday’s announcement and that the principals’ federation had told the Department of Education about its worries before the announcement.
“We voiced concerns and asked the department to proceed with caution here,” she said.
“I highlighted the point that principals are not responsible for what happens outside the school. They do not have jurisdiction there, they are not police, they are not investigators.”
Colin Axup, president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, said the move was welcome but stressed that it would be used sparingly and at principals’ discretion.
However, he acknowledged that the McDonald’s incident last week was an example of where the ability to suspend students for off-campus behaviour had a role to play.
“If there are weapons involved or extreme violence [and] if those two students go to the same school, then it might be appropriate for the principal to go, ‘Actually, a bit of a suspension here would be good while we sort out how we manage these two people being on the school grounds at the same time’,” he said.
He said that while principals appreciated having another tool in their kit, he didn’t want parents or the broader community to think that off-campus student misbehaviour was something schools were solely responsible for solving.
“Schools are not the only solution to changing all behaviour. This is a community. This is about parents being involved positively,” he said.
Axup also warned parents against demanding that principals discipline certain students when the new rules come into effect next month.
“It’s not a parent decision,” he said. “Parents can’t just waltz in and go, ‘I want you to suspend little Johnny or little Sally because they’ve done X, Y and Z’.”
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