Punchbowl Boys High School principal vows to teach students traditional Aussie values of respect
THE principal of Punchbowl Boys High School, charged with turning around the state’s most troubled school, has vowed to teach his students — most of whom Australian values.
NSW
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THE man charged with turning around the state’s most troubled school has vowed to teach his students — most of whom are Muslim — traditional Australian values of respect and tolerance and to crack down on any signs of extremist behaviour.
Robert Patruno stepped into the eye of a storm last week when he took over as principal of Punchbowl Boys High School in Sydney’s southwest after his predecessor Chris Griffiths was sacked for failing to implement the government’s deradicalisation program and his refusal to allow police to monitor suspected extremist students.
Mr Griffiths, who converted to Islam in 2014, was also believed to have turned a blind eye to Muslim students pressuring other pupils to join Islamic prayer groups.
Yesterday, Mr Patruno spoke for the first time exclusively to The Daily Telegraph about his plans to stamp out that kind of peer pressure and to introduce the Stronger Communities Working Together deradicalisation program at the school.
He said all schools that had already implemented the program had benefited. Mr Patruno is even repairing the school’s disused old flagpole and plans to fly the Australian flag proudly every day.
Following shocking reports that students at his school were refusing to shake the hands of female teachers under Mr Griffiths, Mr Patruno confirmed it had taken place at Punchbowl Boys High, but said that from now on he would insist on boys showing female teachers respect.
“Yes, there is reluctance (by some to shake hands) but at the end of the day, you’ve got to respect different kids, if they have that belief,” he said.
“It all comes down to education. If there is those values in the school, I’m going to address them. I’m not going to turn my back on them.
“It’s about respect. The kid, while he doesn’t maybe shake hands because of his belief, will place his hand on his chest. He is still showing respect to that female teacher by placing his hand on his heart.”
Of children being coerced to attend Friday Islamic prayer meetings, Mr Patruno said he would make sure all the boys who attended were doing so with the permission of their parents.
“If (peer pressure) is happening and I identify it, I’m going to address it,” he said.
“If a parent directly comes to me and says there is an issue at this school and is able to identify those kids ... I’ll use the networks in the school to address that.”
Mr Patruno said he also wanted to tackle the “isolation” in the school community, but did not think there was evidence of Islamic State sympathisers at the school.
“It’s about exposing our kids to the wider community,” Mr Patruno said.
Of the rumours his predecessor called police “pigs” and instructed students to film police whenever they spoke to them, Mr Patruno said: “All I know is that I need to rebuild the relationship with Bankstown police. The police haven’t been welcomed into the school.”
The principal also addressed a threat made against him last Monday night after he replaced Mr Griffiths.
While walking to his car, two men saw him and a 19-year-old wound down the window and shouted: “We’re going to get you; we’re going to f ... you up, dog!”
“I didn’t enjoy the person coming past and expressing what they said to me because, at the end of the day, I’m a father,” he said. “They’ve just got to know I’m an educator at the end of the day. I want the best for the kids.”
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Education Minister Rob Stokes, who returned from Britain on the weekend, yesterday backed Mr Patruno’s plan to bring the school back in line with the basic principles of Australian values.
“I think he’s got an amazing vision for rebuilding and dealing with that challenge of isolation, which was the concern,” Mr Stokes said.
“The reality is our public system is open to everybody and we’re required to take people from all sorts of different backgrounds. The point is to provide them with the key literacy and numeracy skills that enable them to have the opportunities that we want them to have; to get jobs, to integrate into Australian society.”
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