‘Sexy and 17’: Queensland principal’s inappropriate emails to staff slammed
Teachers have made complaints about ‘inappropriate’ content in emails sent by a Queensland principal to staff which included a video of a topless young woman.
Education
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Complaints have been made about a Queensland state school principal who sent “inappropriate” emails to staff including a “Sexy and 17” video featuring a topless young woman.
Teachers at James Nash State High School have made complaints about some of the content included by principal Jackson Dodd in a series of staff memos.
James Nash teachers say links to “inappropriate” videos were attached on several midweek memos sent to staff from Mr Dodd‘s email this year.
The Courier-Mail has seen emails from Mr Dodd’s account sent on Wednesday nights with the memos attached via a Word document.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said it had been made aware of the concerns raised and that it would be addressed in line with departmental processes.
One of the James Nash teachers described the memos as “unprofessional” and said they contained “offensive” material.
“I find it really odd behaviour, there’s no link whatsoever to education or schools,” one of the teachers said.
Another teacher labelled the links as “absolute trash”.
One of Mr Dodd’s memos, sent in February this year, contained a link to a YouTube video of the song (She‘s) Sexy and 17 by Stray Cats which has a film clip of a topless woman in underwear.
Above the link to the video was a caption with the words: “This might be a little close to home”.
Another attached a music video of the song Centrefold by The J.Geils Band which features women dancing in racy outfits while holding school books.
One of the teachers said the video links were generally themed around school environments.
Staff were also sent a video of a stand-up comedian whose material included talking about sleeping and sex positions including doggy style.
The series of videos triggered a formal complaint from the Teachers’ Professional Association of Queensland on behalf of its members.
TPAQ state secretary Tracy Tully wrote to the regional director slamming Mr Dodd’s behaviour as “disgraceful and bizarre”.
“I try wherever possible to alert the directors to make them aware of critical incidents’ happening in their schools,” Ms Tully said.
Ms Tully said the incident should have been dealt with immediately and stopped the memos being sent.
She said the principal had demonstrated a pattern of distributing inappropriate content.
Staff were also sent a link to a Weird Al Yankovic song – The night Santa went crazy – which shows a crazed Santa murdering elves and reindeer.
It was captioned with the words: “A little something that reflects my week”.
A week after the Santa memo, James Nash staff received an email apology from Mr Dodd.
“Feedback is important, and I have become aware from recent feedback, that some staff have raised concerns regarding the content in last week‘s memo,” the email read.
“Your feedback has allowed me to reflect and in doing so, I acknowledge and apologise for any concerns or offence this has caused …”
The department spokeswoman said concerns regarding staff are referred to the department’s integrity unit for assessment.
“The department is unable to detail action taken in relation to specific matters raised about employees,” the spokeswoman said.
“Procedural fairness is provided in relation to any allegations made.”
According to James Nash State High School’s latest annual report, about 50 per cent of respondents said the school took staff opinions seriously and that 50 per cent of staff were well supported.
Both categories had dropped by 20 per cent compared to 2019, the last time the staff were surveyed.
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