PMSA issues second statement after board member quits

After its original statement on the resignation of a board member was queried, an elite schools’ governing body has issued a clarification.

In an extraordinary move, the head of the embattled Presbyterian and Methodist Schools’ Association has issued a follow-up explanation of the resignation of controversial board member Bridget Cullen.

In an email to the community of Brisbane Boys’ College – one of four elite schools run by the PMSA – chair Morgan Parker distanced himself from Dr Cullen and her “completely unacceptable” actions.

Dr Cullen quit the PMSA board on Tuesday night after The Courier-Mail exposed her public “Bridget’s BMW Rescue Journey” page on Facebook, her posts deemed by members of PMSA schools to be “wildly inappropriate” and “stereotyping poor people in disadvantaged areas”.

Former PMSA board member Bridget Cullen (Facebook image)

In the initial formal response to The Courier-Mail from the PMSA – which also runs Somerville House, Clayfield College and Sunshine Coast Grammar School – Mr Parker said Dr Cullen had “worked tirelessly during the transformative journey of the PMSA and she has made it clear that she has no interest in becoming a distraction to this significant body of work”.

Yet following confusion among the school communities about the meaning of Mr Parker’s comments, the recently appointed chair issued another statement to parents late on Thursday night.

Mr Parker said: “After speaking with some in our community, the board has realised that our public statement regarding Dr Cullen’s resignation from the BBC council and PMSA board was open to an unintended degree of interpretation...

The PMSA’s follow-up response

“So please let me be very clear now, the language, social stereotyping, and attitudes conveyed in the parody created by Dr Cullen are completely unacceptable to the PMSA board.

“As an organisation founded on Christian values charged with one of society’s most important roles – educating our next generation – we abide by a strict set of ethical and professional standards for ourselves and all those in our community.

“There is nothing about Dr Cullen’s content published on Facebook and in the media that is consistent with those standards.”

After Dr Cullen’s black BMW sports car was stolen in December, she created a satirical yet offensive page in which she pretended to be the juvenile offender who stole her vehicle from her Indooroopilly home.

She used foul language, including the C-word, as she fabricated his highly dysfunctional life in Ipswich.