Inside Story: How the P & C of Qld’s top school spectacularly collapsed
It is the top secondary school in Queensland, but after three divisive years, the P&C voted itself out of existence.
The spectacular demise of the Parents & Citizens Association at Queensland’s top school this week is the culmination of more than three years of controversy at the Toowong college.
Parents and staff voted 34-4 on March 23 in favour of winding up the P & C at the Queensland Academy of Science, Mathematics and Technology, which routinely posts the best NAPLAN and tertiary entrance results in the state.
Students at the 100 per cent selective school study for an International Baccalaureate, rather than sitting for ATAR university-entrance exams, and enjoy some of the best facilities and best teachers in the state.
But despite its popularity with parents, the school has been the focus of numerous media stories.
It all began when the school decided to progressively add Years 7-10 from February, 2019 and to build a $36.3 million Stage Two expansion, including the construction of the Northern Learning Centre and a STEM hub.
Protests began after concerns from locals about the impact on adjacent Toowong Creek.
At one point in late 2019 Extinction Rebellion crews were reported to have joined a protest during school drop-off.
The Department of Education then agreed to move the new building by 11.4m to save a 300-year-old grey ironbark tree.
An around-the-clock presence by security guards was put in place after a string of incidents.
Education Minister Grace Grace said at the time that there were 28 trespassing incidents since July, 2018 of which her department was aware plus seven cases of vandalism.
The vandalism included the forced removal of ignition switches on heavy machinery, which cost thousands of dollars to repair.
There were two graffiti attacks and one arson incident at the new building.
The dramas continued in mid-2020 during the countdown to the state election when locals agitated to stop a fence they believed would block the school ovals from being used as an unofficial dog offleash area.
The issue was picked up by major political parties, with then LNP candidate for Maiwar, former TV reporter Lauren Day, promising to scrap the fence if elected.
The sitting Greens MP, Michael Berkman, also opposed the fence and launched a parliamentary petition that ended up being signed by more than 1000 people.
The school later reversed an earlier decision to lock a gate providing access to the adjacent Vera St community garden.
So far, it has not built a fence and Ms Grace promised to ensure there was no restriction to public access to the school’s ovals.
Meanwhile, other spot fires were breaking out.
In 2020, website Better Education included a disclaimer about the inclusion of “bonus ranks’’ after a complaint that the school’s conversion of International Baccalaureate results to equivalent ATAR rankings had “inflated’’ its results.
Better Education adjusted QASMT’s results down to 76.3 per cent of students receiving an ATAR of 90+, which meant Brisbane Girls Grammar School overtook it to receive the No. 1 ranking in the state.
In May that year, data from a two-year student wellbeing survey was deleted after complaints from some parents that it might have been shared with a third party without parental consent.
And in September, 2021, it was revealed two students launched change.org petitions after claiming the school was not supportive of LGBTIQA students, including handing out detention for wearing rainbow-themed accessories, and responded unsatisfactorily to alleged sexual harassment of several female students by male students.
The school has since promoted Pride Week and made other inclusivity changes.
During this time, the P & C’s meetings were becoming more heated as several parents and some locals who had begun attending them clashed with its president and with principal Kath Kayrooz.
The P & C executive claimed their opponents conducted a “campaign of harassment’’ by continually disrupting meetings with questions, at one point resulting in Ms Kayrooz walking out in tears.
The executive responded by cancelling meetings or holding them via Zoom and voting to refuse the P & C membership of one opponent.
The opponents have painted a very different picture, saying their “very reasonable’’ questions went unanswered, particularly about fees being charged for extra-curricular activities and the fate of more than $100,000 donated by parents for new facilities.
One of the opponents said parents had voluntarily paid more than $200 each for “bricks’’ — a fundraising strategy that they said raised at least $100,000 for what originally was supposed to have been things such as handball courts.
Instead, those projects were put on hold while the new buildings were constructed.
They claimed the P & C executive then told them the money would go to facilities such as toilets blocks.
Most recently, they were told the funds would contribute to the $1.88 million cost of a planned wellness centre.
“The wellness centre has been on the table since mid-2021 and is still not approved by DoE (Department of Education),’’ they said.
“There was a proposal to ask parents to donate $350 each to make up 25 per cent of the cost, approximately $450,000.’’
Thursday night’s meeting, in which the P & C voted itself out of existence, was told the executive had received official confirmation from the Assistant Regional Director, Metropolitan Region, that the P & C’s funds would be transferred to the school.
“In consultation with both the QASMT principal and the president of QASMT P & C Association, the Regional Director has determined that any remaining funds held by P & C Association at dissolution, along with any remittance from disposal of assets or property (where retention of said assets or property is not deemed of benefit to QASMT), be allocated
as funding to support the QASMT Sports & Wellbeing Centre upgrade, or allocated to sports infrastructure at QASMT should the Sports and Wellbeing Centre upgrade be deemed unviable,” the Regional Director was quoted as having said.
Up to 73 people were present at Thursday’s dissolution vote, which opponents claimed must have been in the planning for months.
“There was no opportunity for members to have a discussion, voice concerns or propose alternative solutions in an open, transparent way,’’ they said.
“Zoom meetings are not easy to navigate. All meetings last year were onsite.
“Less than 24 hours’ notice was provided to members and there was no opportunity for anyone else to attend.’’
Chat was disabled throughout the first 30 minutes of presentations, with only a 15-minute Q&A session open to all those present.
One of the opponents claimed Survey Monkey voting was unable to be accessed by some members, forcing some parents to scramble to share links on their own.
The now ex-president of the P & C, Winand D’Souza, told the meeting: “We failed as a P & C”.
But the opponents asserted that “the P & C was not representing all parents”.
