Convicted child sex offender Joshua Kenneth Mangan worked at 30 schools across Hunter
A convicted child sex offender on the child protection register was allowed to work at 30 New South Wales schools for months before an unrelated complaint exposed his history.
A convicted child sexual offender worked at dozens of schools over a period of months despite being on the child protection register, due to a troubling flaw in how the Department of Education screens private contractors across the state.
Maitland man Joshua Kenneth Mangan, 33, was employed as a labourer working on roof and guttering jobs on an estimated 30 different school grounds across the Hunter since May — despite being convicted by the NSW District Court in 2022 of indecently assaulting a girl under 16.
Mangan’s employment had occurred because those on the child protection register are only required to sign a statutory declaration that they are not a “prohibited person”, before they are allowed on school grounds.
It was only when Mangan was recently charged with unrelated breaches of the register that the Department of Education was made aware of his history.
He will face court for the first time later this month and has not been required to enter any pleas.
The Department of Education has now confirmed that an urgent review is underway on “our protocols for maintenance contractors”, while the contracting company he worked for had been suspended from doing school jobs.
“The NSW Department of Education takes child safety very seriously. We have suspended the hiring contractor and labourer pending further enquiries,” the department said in a statement.
“There is currently no evidence that this employee has engaged in any improper or unacceptable conduct while working at our schools and no immediate risk to students has been identified at this time.
“However, we are urgently reviewing our protocols for maintenance contractors.”
The Daily Telegraph uncovered the apparent inadequacies within the screening process in the wake of learning of Mangan’s role working at Hunter schools.
They include the current protocols where private contractors only need to either sign a statutory declaration that they are not a “prohibited person”, or undertake a nationally co-ordinated criminal history check – a document which lists a persons past crimes.
It remains unclear who is responsible for reviewing the national police check to determine an individual’s suitability to work on school grounds.
The department has confirmed that there was no stipulation that the state’s private contractors, who are constantly called to school grounds for maintenance and other urgent works, need to undergo a Working With Children Check – a much more stringent investigation of an individual’s past before they gain approval to work around children.
The Office of Children’s Guardian also says on its website that “situations that … don’t require a Working with Children Check” include “a tradesperson who may incidentally come into contact with children but is not working with the children”.
Port Stephens-Hunter police charged Mangan on October 9 with two counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations relating to the child protection register.
The charges do not relate to Mangan’s work at schools.
The Department of Education only became aware of the charges five days after Mangan was arrested, when a school where he had worked had been notified.
A spokeswoman for Mangan’s employer confirmed the company had only been suspended on Friday – in the wake of The Daily Telegraph asking the department a series of questions.
The company’s spokeswoman said they were unaware of Mangan’s past and had followed “every protocol, every procedure the department asks of us” in relation to Mangan and their other employees.
They claimed Mangan had signed a statutory declaration that he was not a prohibited person before he was employed as a labourer – the only stipulation required by the department before tradespeople are allowed on school sites.
The department said Mangan attended the schools since May and “on every occasion as part of a team of at least two labourers”.
It would be notifying each school.
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Originally published as Convicted child sex offender Joshua Kenneth Mangan worked at 30 schools across Hunter
