Clayfield College being used as political football, claims parent

ONE of Brisbane’s most prestigious schools is facing “a death spiral” and being “chucked under the bus” by its governing body as well as the lobby group opposing it, a parent claims.

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NOTE: The Press Council has partially upheld a complaint by Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association. Read the full adjudication here.

 

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ONE of Brisbane’s most prestigious schools is facing “a death spiral” and being “chucked under the bus” by its governing body as well as the lobby group opposing it.

Julia Thornton, a parent at Clayfield College, said both the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association and Beyond PMSA were using parents, students and teachers as “political footballs” in a war that began last year when The Courier-Mail broke the elite school scandal.

The release by Beyond PMSA of a controversial report, discussed at a town-hall meeting on Monday, had caused unnecessary alarm, said Ms Thornton, who subsequently resigned from the Beyond PMSA committee.

In the report, accountant Anthony Moore alleged the PMSA had mismanaged funds, but also said “to make public the possibility that Clayfield College is not a going concern … may drive a continuing cycle of reduced enrolments requiring cost reductions”.

This would lead to fewer students being enrolled, “an effective death spiral”.

Since 2011, enrolment numbers have fallen from 933 to 652 at the Prep to Year 12 college.

A Clayfield College parent says the school is caught in the middle between its governing body and a parents’ lobby group.

Ms Thornton, of Nundah, said students were being teased by peers from rival schools about “whether they will have a school to go to tomorrow” and teachers were worried if they would have jobs.

Another parent, who declined to be named, accused the PMSA of not upgrading classrooms that were “decades out of date”.

“Every parent has to pay the same high fees but not every child gets a satisfactory classroom, you have to be lucky,” she said.

“In 2018 the PMSA announced a master plan to improve facilities but this should have happened years ago — it is playing catch-up and the kids deserve better.”

Ms Thornton said many students had left to attend nearby St Rita’s or St Margaret’s in “a contagion effect: when one parent walks, another follows”.

Beyond PMSA is campaigning to have Clayfield College, Somerville House, Brisbane Boys College and Sunshine Coast Grammar School removed from PMSA control, despite church leaders saying this will not happen.

After this week’s town hall meeting, Beyond PMSA told parents via its website to talk to their children and “re-enforce that you are standing up for the right thing”.

Ms Thornton said parents just wanted their children to be educated instead of being dragged into “this fracas”.

“Neither group can say they have acted well,” she said.

“The PMSA still has many questions to answer about staffing matters, particularly at Somerville House [with the sacking of principal Flo Kearney and other staff last year] and in their head office.

“And Beyond PMSA is intent on using the media to embarrass and shame members of the PMSA council.

“Both groups need to sit down and work things out instead of chucking Clayfield College under the bus.”

Clayfield College principal Kathy Bishop, in an email to parents on Wednesday, said the school was “financially stable, continuously evolving and growing steadily”.

PMSA chairman Greg Adsett told The Courier-Mail: “We have made mistakes and we could have managed things differently late last year.

“We are taking positive steps to improve our governance, increase our transparency and rebuild confidence and trust with our school community.”

Mr Adsett said “general learning” classrooms for Years 7-9 and senior students were refurbished in 2016.

“We continue to offer Beyond PMSA the opportunity to speak directly with us.”